MADISON, Wis. — Thanks to an overtime power-play goal by sophomore Annie Pankowski, the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team earned a thrilling 3-2 victory over No. 3 Minnesota in front of a sellout crowd at LaBahn Arena.

Pankowski scored her 12th of the season after redirecting a Courtney Burke shot into the net with just 55 seconds left in the extra session to lead UW to its 17th-straight win, which is tied for the second-longest winning streak in program history.

"I give a lot of credit to Courtney who recognized a player lost her stick and was able to take another 10 feet with the puck and set up Annie for a tip-in, so it was a big goal, a big victory, and everybody on the Badgers side goes home smiling tonight," UW head coach Mark Johnson said.

The triumph in front of 2,273 fans at a loud LaBahn Arena snapped an 18-game winless drought for the Badgers (17-0-0, 11-0-0-0 WCHA) against Minnesota (15-2-0, 11-2-0-0 WCHA). Prior to Friday's win, the last time Wisconsin beat Minnesota was on Oct. 14, 2011.

"It's nice obviously to get the win," Johnson said. "I think equally as important is a sellout crowd, I think they got treated to a very good women's hockey game. Typical we have to go into overtime and give them some more, so I think everybody got their money's worth tonight."

Freshman Sam Cogan and senior Rachel Jones each notched a goal and an assist, while junior netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens collected 21 saves in the victory.

Both teams were scoreless through period one, thanks to defensive efforts in front of both goaltenders. Desbiens saved all six shots that Minnesota managed to get on net.

"In the first period we were trying to figure out how to play without the puck a little bit, we haven't had to do that much this year," Johnson said. "They did a nice job with their defensemen, and we learned from that period."

The Gophers started a four-goal flurry in the second stanza, when senior Brook Garzone was able to sneak a backhand shot over Desbiens's blocker on a breakaway, giving Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

The Badgers would answer less than five minutes later, when Cogan grabbed a rebound let up by Minnesota netminder Amanda Leveille, flipping the puck up and over Leveille to knot the game at 1-1.

"It was amazing," Cogan said about her sixth goal of the year. "I was super happy to get that goal for the team and get an assist later to help out the team."

A short time later, Jones added her own goal to give the Badgers their first lead of the game. After Leveille blocked two consecutive shots from Cogan, Jones took the rebound and stuffed it under Leveille's pad for her eighth goal of the season.

"I think we adjusted in the second period and we capitalized on our opportunities," Burke said of the first two periods. "I think we just started to play our game again."

Minnesota responded before the second frame ended with a laser from senior Milica McMillen as the Border Battle was knotted up at two heading into the second intermission.

Wisconsin allowed the Gophers to take only six shots in the second period, while the Cardinal and White racked up 13 shots on net.

The two teams combined for 16 third-period shots on goal with Minnesota outshooting Wisconsin 10-6, but neither team could find the game-winning goal in regulation.

Midway through the extra frame, the Golden Gophers' Sydney Baldwin was called for checking, giving Wisconsin their third power-play opportunity of the night with 2:13 left in the five-minute overtime period. With less than a minute remaining in overtime, Burke used the extra space afforded by the player-advantage to find an open lane to Leveille and launched a slapshot from the point. Pankowski redirected the rocket past Leveille and into the back of the net for the UW victory.

With the goal, Pankowski extended her point streak to 20 games, now holding sole possession of the fifth-longest point streak in program history.

Burke's two assists bumped her career point total to 94, surpassing former Badger Bobbi-Jo Slusar as the UW captain now ranks third in program history in scoring among defensemen.

The victory marked the first time a player on the UW roster has beaten Minnesota, but the Cardinal and White know they will have its hands full on Saturday as the Border Battle rivals wrap up their series at 3 p.m.

"It is definitely a thing in our back pocket, but we can't focus on it too much." Pankowski said of the win. "They're going to come out hard not wanting to lose. Tomorrow is an entirely new game."