MADISON, Wis. — It was a night of seconds for the Wisconsin men's hockey team.
 
The Badgers (5-12-6, 1-7-2-1 Big Ten) got a two-goal game from Ryan Wagner, three second-period goals, and a big response in a matter of seconds to top Alaska 4-3 on Friday night at the Kohl Center.
 
Wisconsin opened the scoring with just 47 seconds left in the first period on Corbin McGuire's second goal of the season, but the turning point came around the seven-minute mark of the second period. After the Nanooks (7-14-4, 5-11-4 WCHA) tied the game 6:51 into the second, the Badgers answered in just 18 seconds to take the lead back for good.
 
"When you score in the first period, it always helps and to score first, that helps as well," assistant captain Grant Besse said. "For Corbin to score, not only because it was the first goal to give us a lift but his first game at defense, we were all pretty jacked up for him. The combination of those two things, they helped a lot."
 
It was Wagner's first goal of the game that gave Wisconsin the 2-1 lead, as he redirected Jake Linhart's slap shot past Nanooks' netminder Jesse Jenks. The power-play goal for Wagner was his team-leading fifth of the season, and gave UW 15 power-play tallies this season, tying the entire output from last season.
 
A little more than five minutes later, Jarod Zirbel found the back of the net for the first time in his career on what proved to be a pivotal goal. Jason Ford set up the play by grabbing a turnover along the right goal line and sending a pass to the low slot for Zirbel, who whacked the bouncing puck past Jenks to make it 3-1.
 
"That whole line of Jason Ford, Matt Ustaski, and Zirbel played very well," head coach Mike Eaves said. "They got a lot of ice time because they built trust with the coaching staff and they chipped in offensively, which is part of their job."
 
Nolan Huysmans would get the Nanooks back within one just 35 seconds later.
 
But Ryan Wagner scored in the final four minutes of the second to send the Badgers into the locker room with a two-goal lead. Seamus Malone fed Wagner from behind the net, and Wagner zipped a one-timer from the low right circle into the back of the net, giving him his third multiple-goal game of the season.
 
The Nanooks trimmed the lead back to one 3:40 into the third period on Tyler Morley's second goal of the game. But Alaska managed just four other shots on goal in the final period of regulation.
 
Wisconsin was tasked with a penalty kill in the final 1:43 of the third after Jedd Soleway was whistled for checking from behind. The Badgers stood strong in that penalty kill, which included almost a minute of 6-on-4 for Alaska with Jenks pulled for an extra attacker, to surpass last season's win total.
 
Kevin Schulze and Seamus Malone both picked up two assists in the victory, while Matt Jurusik stopped 20 shots in his fifth win of the season.
 
"We got some good medicine tonight," Eaves said of rebounding after the sweep against Minnesota last weekend. "We got a win and Jurusik was back in the saddle. We can move forward from here with a lighter jump in our step and get ready for tomorrow and see if we can build on what we did tonight."
Wisconsin will go for the series sweep tomorrow night, with a 7 p.m. puck drop against the Nanooks. The game will be televised on the Wisconsin Channel.
 
Wisconsin will also honor its 2006 NCAA championships with a ceremonial puck drop, and recognition of the men's title during the first intermission and the women's title during the second break.