Minneapolis, Minn. - Wyatt Kaiser and Owen Gallatin both posted their first career goals on Friday evening in Minneapolis as the No. 5 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated the No. 4 Minnesota Gophers by a score of 5-3. Additionally, graduate transfer Casey Gilling tallied his first career UMD goal in the victory. The win gives Minnesota Duluth a 4-1 overall record on the season. 

Blake Biondi, Quinn Olson, Gallatin, Kaiser, and Gilling all secured goals on the night. Noah Cates, Biondi, and Gilling all posted two points, while junior goaltender Ryan Fanti made 18 saves on 21 Gopher shots for his third win of the season. 

Not even two minutes into the first period, UMD earned an offensive zone faceoff. On the draw, Quinn Olson won the faceoff and kicked the puck back to Biondi in the slot. The sophomore snapped a wrist shot top right corner past Jack Lafontaine to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage. For Biondi, the goal was his second in five games this season. 
 
In the first period, UMD held the Gophers without a shot for the first 11 minutes of the game. To that point, the Bulldogs had outshot the Gophers 11-0. With about twelve remaining in the first, the Biondi line went back to work. After Darian Gotz threw a puck on net, Olson picked up the rebound in the right faceoff circle, spun and wristed a shot far side on Fontaine to make the score 2-0 in favor UMD.  
 
With 2:44 remaining in the first, Connor Kelley was called for hooking, giving the Gophers the first power-play of the game. Midway through the man-advantage, Minnesota would convert. A shot from the top of the zone from Mike Koster beat Fanti to cut the UMD lead to 2-1 with 1:07 remaining in the first. The Bulldogs took the lead into the first intermission. 
 
The teams would skate 4-on-4 early in the second period due to matching minor penalties to both sides. While 4-on-4, Gallatin would notch his first career collegiate goal. Gilling skated the puck into the Gopher zone before cycling the puck into the left-hand corner to Cates. Gallatin snuck in backdoor and took a beautiful saucer pass from Cates. All in one motion, Gallatin one-timed the puck far side off the post and in. UMD took a 3-1 advantage just three minutes into the middle frame.
 
A few minutes later, another Bulldog tallied his first career goal. At 9:32 of the second period, Kobe Roth picked up the puck in the neutral zone and spotted a streaking Kaiser. Kaiser took a tape-to-tape pass at the Gopher line and fired a shot from the top of the faceoff circle. LaFontaine kicked a rebound right back to a waiting Kaiser, who buried his first goal as a Bulldog. UMD would control the game through most of the second period. With 2:06 remaining in the second, Minnesota used a backhand from the slot to cut the Duluth lead to 4-2 heading into the third period.
 
Kaiser would take a holding penalty just five minutes into the third period. On their second power-play of the game, the Gophers threatened but UMD wouldn't break. With 14 seconds left in the man-advantage, Minnesota was called for slashing, giving the Bulldogs a power-play. Just 16 seconds into UMD's powerplay, another Gopher was called for holding, giving the Bulldogs a 5-on-3 advantage. On the ensuing faceoff, Bender poked the puck to Cates who would then find Gilling for a wide open backdoor goal. For Gilling, the goal is the first of his Minnesota Duluth career. Just over a minute later, a shorthanded goal for the Gophers made the score 5-3 about midway through the third period.
 
Within the last two minutes, Minnesota elected to pull their goalie. While pressuring deep in the UMD zone, a Gopher backdoor pass attempt was blocked beautifully by a diving Kaiser. A few plays later, a Gopher one-timer from the faceoff dot was snagged and gloved by Fanti. UMD would run out the clock and close out a 5-3 win.
 
It was the first time the two teams had met since Oct. 25-26 of 2019. During their matchup almost two years ago, the Bulldogs used 5-2 and 2-0 victories to sweep the Golden Gophers. 
 
Up Next
No. 5 Minnesota Duluth and No. 4 Minnesota will rematch tomorrow evening (Saturday, Oct. 23) in Duluth, Minn. for a 7:07 PM puck drop.