Switching this weekend’s men’s hockey series to Saturday-Sunday didn’t break the Gophers’ trend of tying first and winning second, but it did get sophomore netminder Alex Kangas his first collegiate shutout in Sunday’s 3-0 blanking of Michigan Tech.

A day after the Gophers blew a two-goal lead in under 40 seconds to tie the Huskies 2-2 in overtime, Kangas turned away all 38 shots in Sunday afternoon’s penalty-filled contest.

“It feels good to get the monkey off my back,” Kangas said. “We played a great game today. I had only 38 shots but most of them were from the outside. They didn’t have too many second looks.”

“He was our best player,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said.

Scoring chances were sporadic Sunday due to the 22 penalties called in the game. Twelve of them went against the Huskies — the best behaved team in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

“To be honest, we didn’t give ourselves a fighting chance with our level of discipline,” Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell said.

On Sunday, Minnesota (6-0-4 overall, 5-0-3 WCHA) was sparked by a pair of goals in the first from junior forwards Ryan Stoa and Tony Lucia during a 5-on-3 Gophers advantage.

Stoa picked up his team high ninth goal at the 9:39 mark to make it 5-on-4, and 24 seconds later Lucia brought the Huskies back to even strength with a goal of his own.

The roles were reversed in the final moments of the game when the Huskies tried to play spoiler for Kangas with a 5-on-3 of their own.

But the sophomore from Rochester was able to keep the crease clear with a little help from his penalty killing unit.

“Alex earned it. Tech had as many scoring chances as we did. He certainly earned the shutout,” Don Lucia said. “The guys, the last couple minutes, were conscious of it and really wanted to try and get it for him.”

Almost fittingly, a last-second desperation shot from Michigan Tech was snagged out of the air by Kangas, who appeared to hold his glove closed a little tighter — making sure not to lose the puck or the shutout.

“He always shows up, night in and night out he’s probably our best player out here,” Stoa said.

Game notes

Kangas made 41 career starts before Sunday’s shutout.

The last Gophers shutout was made by Jeff Frazee last year on Nov. 16 in another 3-0 win — that time over Alaska Anchorage. Kangas would later edge out Frazee to become the Gophers everyday goalie.

The Gophers continued to find success in special teams situations. The power play was 3-for-12, and the penalty kill blanked Michigan Tech in all of its 12 opportunities.

Minnesota has only been shutout once in the last two seasons. Minnesota State handed the Gophers a 1-0 loss in double overtime in Game One of last season’s WCHA Playoff Series.

With No. 1 Boston University losing Friday night, second-ranked Minnesota is presumed to jump to the top of the polls.

The last time the Gophers were the No. 1 team in the country was Jan. 27, 2007.