Justin Magill For AnnArbor.com

MINNEAPOLIS - The Michigan hockey team fell behind by two goals, went 0-for-4 on the power play and came up short Sunday against No. 15 Minnesota, 3-1, in the final game of the 18-year College Hockey Showcase.

Minnesota goalie Alex Kangas stopped 36 shots - 12 and 13 in the final two periods.

“Minnesota’s a good team,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “You give them the lead, we couldn’t answer the bell.”

No. 8 Michigan (8-4-4) finished the College Hockey Showcase with a record of 20-14-2, and was 9-9 against Minnesota. It's the finale of the longtime Thanksgiving weekend series because Wisconsin no longer wanted to participate, according to reports.

Senior right wing Scooter Vaughn provided the only scoring for Michigan, whose seventh goal of the season came late in the second period and cut Minnesota’s lead to 2-1.

Nate Condon scored his fifth goal of the season for Minnesota (8-5-1) to open the scoring on a two-on-one feed from Jacob Cepis in the first period, which Michigan dominated for the first 10 minutes.

The score stayed 1-0 until the final three minutes of the second, when three goals were scored in a span of 2 minutes, 34 seconds.

“We didn’t want to play race horse,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “It started to open up and it’s like, ‘OK guys, we don’t want to play that type of game.’ We didn’t want to exchange scoring chances with them.”

After Minnesota killed off a five-minute major checking from behind penalty to defensemen Aaron Ness, it went on the offensive once again.

“You got to get something,” Berenson said. “That’s the way hockey is. A team sometimes gets more energy from killing a penalty.”

Nick Larson made it 2-0 for the Gophers when he ripped a slap shot past Michigan goalie Bryan Hogan (23 saves) on the low glove side after the Wolverines turned the puck over in the neutral zone.

Vaughan’s goal came 55 seconds later. He used his big frame to take the puck to the front, got a shot off, and then banged home the rebound to bring the Wolverines within a goal.

After a Vaughan holding penalty, Erik Haula answered for the Gophers, burying home a rebound on the back door.

“That power play goal in the last minute, that hurts,” Berenson said. “We couldn’t get that one back.”

Hogan made the initial save on Jake Hansen, but Haula had a wide-open net and made it 3-1 heading into the final period.

Late in the third on the penalty kill, Michigan junior left wing David Wohlberg had a chance to cut into the lead, when Minnesota coughed the puck up at the blue line. Wohlberg had a clear breakaway, but was shut down by Kangas on the blocker.

“Had a shorthanded breakaway that could have turned the momentum, but give them credit,” Berenson said.

“I thought that was a huge save,” Lucia added. “He (Kangas) stood tall. When Alex is at his best, there’s no rebounds, he’s swallowing pucks up and putting them into corners. Tonight we saw that from him.”

Michigan returns to CCHA play and will continue a string of games against Big Ten rivals, traveling to Ohio State for a two-game series. The opener on Friday starts at 7:05 p.m. and will be televised by the Big Ten Network. The Saturday finale is at 7:05 p.m. on BigTenNetwork.com.