COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State scored twice in the last eight minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime, but Wisconsin's Matthew Freytag found the back of the net in the sixth round of the shootout to help UW earn two points in a 4-4 tie on Friday night at the Schottenstein Center.
 
All four lines factored into the scoring for the Badgers (6-15-8, 1-10-4-2) in the draw, including the second-liner Freytag who scored the fourth goal for UW and provided the only goal of the shootout.
 
After playing some of its best hockey of the season last weekend without anything to show for it, the shootout victory over Ohio State (9-17-3, 4-8-3-1 Big Ten) provided UW with a tangible result for its efforts.
 
"It's technically a tie, but it feels – when you win in a shootout, especially for our young group, I think it's important they get a little positive feedback," head coach Mike Eaves said. "We haven't had much. It was good."
 
Wisconsin fell behind early in the first period when OSU's Nick Schilkey beat UW goaltender Matt Jurusik just 90 seconds into the opening frame.
 
But the Badgers battled back as they have on many occasions this season. First line winger Luke Kunin scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season at the 7:52 mark of the first period, rifling a loose puck in the slot past Buckeyes' netminder Christian Frey to knot the game at one.
 
Ohio State grabbed the lead right back just 40 seconds later, but Jurusik settled in after that and was a key factor down the stretch, including stopping all six shootout attempts.  
 
"I think it was a tough game, the first shot goes in. But he stayed mentally in the game, which sometimes is what a goalie has to do," Eaves said of Jurusik's play. "He did that tonight. He showed a lot of maturity in that."
 
With Ohio State looking like it would take the lead into the first intermission, Wisconsin got arguably its biggest goal of the game from freshman Seamus Malone to swing the moment in its favor. Malone picked up a loose puck in the high slot and then waited out Frey, slipping the puck inside the far post from just left of the goal mouth to make it a 2-2 game with just 43 seconds left in the first.
 
Wisconsin then took the lead just 3:10 into the second period when sophomore Matt Ustaski picked up a rebound in the low slot and punched it past Frey to make it 3-2. It was Ustaski's first goal since Dec. 4 against Michigan, snapping a 12-game stretch without a goal.
 
Neither team scored until the 8:36 mark of the third period when Freytag potted his seventh of the year to increase UW's lead to 4-2.
 
A pair of line changes that saw Will Johnson move to the top line for the first time this season helped give Wisconsin a balanced scoring attack.
 
"It was an important factor for us tonight. I think guys felt good about that," Eaves said of the offensive balance. "Unfortunately, the one part about the game is that we didn't get the job done in regulation. That's still part that we have to forge here together before we get to St. Paul."
 
But the two-goal Wisconsin lead didn't last long, as Ohio State trimmed it to a 4-3 UW edge just 4:09 later when John Wiitala beat Jurusik from the slot on a rebound.
 
Then with just 48 seconds left in regulation, Schilkey one-timed a feed from Anthony Greco for his second goal of the game to send the contest to overtime.
 
Wisconsin outshot Ohio State 4-0 in the extra session but could not find the back of the net, giving UW its eighth tie of the season to tie the school record set in 2003-04.
 
"We did a lot of good things, and we can build on that. Our theme here has been a little bit about that, trying to get to be playing our best hockey at the end of the year, forge ourselves into the type of team we want to be," Eaves said. "We took a step in the right direction tonight by the things we did on the ice."
 
Wisconsin will go for the series victory against the Buckeyes tomorrow night. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m.