COLUMBUS, Ohio--The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (19-7-4, 12-5-3-2 Big Ten) comeback fell short against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-14-4, 10-9-3-0 Big Ten) by a score of 4-3 Saturday night in game two of the weekend series at the Schottenstein Center resulting in a Gopher weekend series sweep, with the road team winning all games in the season series

The star of the game was Minnesota junior goaltender Mat Robson who had 43 saves on 46 shots including a 21 shot barrage in the third period and a number of larcenous saves in the final two minutes of the game while the Buckeyes were on a 6-on-4 power play advantage.

Ohio State sophomore goaltender Tommy Nappier who had one of his very few off nights for the Buckeyes with 12 saves on 16 shots and just his second loss in regulation all season as the Buckeyes were swept in a weekend series for the first time all year long.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers got another solid game from their forward group, the previous game it was freshman forward Nathan Burke with three points, tonight's game it is senior forward Tyler Sheehy with a goal and an assist. Columbus Blue Jackets prospect and junior forward Carson Meyer had a goal and an assist while junior defenseman Matt Miller had two assists in the loss for the Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes were still without the team's second-leading scorer in junior star forward and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Tanner Laczynski who is out with an upper-body injury as well as freshman skilled playmaking forward Gustaf Westlund who is out with an undisclosed injury. Each player has been out of the lineup for the last six games.

Just 20 seconds into the game, the Gophers senior forward Tommy Novak sent a bullet of a pass past the Buckeye defense to spring a 2-on-0 rush with freshman forward Sampo Ranta giving a pass to sophomore forward Scott Reedy for an easy tap-in goal past a defensiveness Nappier for an early Minnesota lead.

The opening frame didn't get any better for the Buckeyes as senior defenseman Sasha Larocque lost his man on a 2-on-2 transition play in Burke who collected his fourth point on the weekend when lifting the puck over the glove hand of Nappier to give the Gophers a familiar 2-0 lead, their fourth two-goal lead of the weekend.

Although the Buckeyes controlled most of the play in the first period with a shots advantage of 16-10, they are down by two goals due to bad transition defense at the end of the first 20 minutes.

With 6:42 into the second period, Minnesota senior forward Brent Gates Jr. snapped a blistering shot just under the blocker of Nappier and into the net that extended the Gopher lead to a mountain of a hill for the Buckeyes to climb with a three-goal deficit.

The Buckeyes started to climb that mountain with help of their power play as senior forward Mason Jobst ripped a shot past Robson with the Buckeye captain's team-leading 16th goal of the season putting the Buckeyes on the board with a 3-1 score.

With 2:53 left in the second period, Ohio State junior forward and Meyer received a great pass from senior forward Dakota Joshua, who got his 100th career point on the assist, out of a scramble behind the net and fired a quick short-side release past Robson to cut the Gopher lead to one goal.

Ohio State held a shot advantage of 9-4 after the second period with a total of 25-14 after two periods.

A turnover in the neutral zone by Jobst went the other way and junior forward Rem Pitlick found Sheehy in the high slot for his 11th goal of the season and doubling the Gopher lead yet again at a score of 4-2 with 11:12 left in the third period.

Ohio State got the goal right back when junior forward Ronnie Hein tipped in his 10th goal of the season on a shot by senior defenseman Tommy Parran that brought the Buckeyes within a shot to tie the game with 9:57 left in the final frame.

The Buckeyes got a late power play at 2:19 when junior defenseman Tyler Nanne tripped Hein giving the Buckeyes an opportunity with the goaltender pulled and a 6-on-4 advantage, Robson made a series of miraculous saves that propelled the Gophers to a 4-3 win, surviving a vicious third period attack from Ohio State for a weekend series sweep.

The Buckeye owned the third period on every level with a dominating 21-2 shot total in the third period and a 46-16 shot total for the game.

The Buckeyes will look to bounce back and get back in the win column when they travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to finish the season series with a two-game weekend series against arch-rival Michigan Wolverines (12-12-6, 8-8-4-2 Big Ten) in legendary Yost Ice Arena. Puck drop for game one will be at 6:30 p.m. and televised by FS1, while game two will be at 6 p.m. and televised by