MINNEAPOLIS — It was a different weekend and different opponent for the Wisconsin men's hockey team on Friday night, but the result was almost the exact same.
 
The Badgers (8-17-8, 3-12-4-2 Big Ten) got two goals from Grant Besse, including what proved to be the game-winning empty netter with just 1:16 left in regulation, and squelched a Minnesota rally down the stretch to top the 19th-ranked Gophers, 4-3, at Mariucci Arena.
 
After stopping short then-No. 14 Penn State's rally in a 4-3 win last Saturday, Wisconsin built off that lesson and held on late to pick up its second-straight win over a ranked foe.
 
It was the top line of Besse and Kunin who helped pave the way offensively for UW.  Besse, one of seven Minnesota natives on Wisconsin's roster, came into the game with seven goals in his last seven games against the Gophers.
 
Despite a tougher year in terms of goal scoring for Besse, the junior continued his rampant play against the Gophers with his first multi-goal game of the year and the third of his career.
 
"He's been snake-bitten quite a bit this year," head coach Mike Eaves said of Besse. "The guys gave him heck that finally he scored on a breakaway with the empty netter. Shots that were going in last year aren't as freely going in this year, but for him to come up big there was really nice."
 
Wisconsin got all but one of its goals in the first two periods, but it was the final two minutes of regulation that ultimately decided the game.
 
Grant Besse's empty netter looked to be enough to put the contest out of reach, giving UW a 4-2 cushion with 1:16 to play, but Minnesota continued to fight. The Gophers pulled goaltender Eric Schierhorn again, and Tommy Novak fired a one-timer past UW netminder Matt Jurusik with 53 seconds left in regulation to bring the Gophers back within one.
 
Wisconsin looked like it was about to score another empty netter with less than 30 seconds left, but the play was whistled dead at the blue line on a controversial offsides call, giving the Gophers one last opportunity. In the ensuing sequence, Minnesota found the back of the net with just five seconds remaining. However, the Gophers had been offsides entering the zone, and what would have been the game-tying goal was disallowed after video review.
 
Wisconsin held on in the final 10 seconds after play resumed, but it was the work the Badgers had done earlier in the game that paid dividends.
 
The turning point of the game arguably came at the end of the first period. In the moments after Jedd Soleway took a five-minute major for checking from behind, Minnesota's Michael Brodzinski ended up getting called for roughing after the whistle to set up a four-on-four sequence with 32 seconds left in the third.
 
That proved pivotal, and just 13 seconds later Kunin intercepted a pass in the offensive zone and beat Schierhorn five-hole to put UW up for good at 2-1. Kunin has now scored goals in six of his last eight games, and extended his point streak to five games. 
 
"It's a like a beach ball shot in the air," Eaves said of Kunin's team-leading 17th goal of the year. "You probably don't expect it, but it gives us a boost."
 
Wisconsin then translated that momentum into the second period, and killed off three minutes of the major penalty to Soleway after the four-on-four expired.
 
Outside of the five-minute major and a penalty earlier in the first period that led to the Gophers' first goal, Wisconsin didn't take a penalty the rest of the way.
 
In Eaves' eyes, that disciplined play was a big factor in the win.
 
"We talked about that all week. The Gophers are a team that don't take a lot of penalties, and we took a page out of their book to keep their power play units off the ice and that helped us," Eaves said.
 
The Badgers power play also had limited chances, but it converted twice on just three opportunities. Minnesota took the lead 9:18 into the first period with its power-play tally, but the Badgers tied it up with a power-play marker on their second man advantage of the night with 2:11 left in the first. Jedd Soleway, who had twice been hit by Kunin's shots while trying to set a screen in front, redirected Kunin's shot past Schierhorn the third time around to knot it at one.
 
The Badgers second power play conversion came from Grant Besse, who slipped a backhander past Schierhorn from the right goal line at 11:19 mark of the second to give UW a 3-1 edge.
 
"Our power play was good for us tonight," Eaves said. "We had been tinkering with it and found something that worked tonight, which was real good."
 
After a home sweep at the hands of Minnesota in late-January, the Badgers bounced back in big fashion to prevent Minnesota from winning the Big Ten regular season title, at least for a night. Jurusik was at the forefront of that, as he stopped 32 of 35 shots for his second straight win.
 
"We had an opportunity to redeem ourselves. They took it to heart. I think it was a part of what we did tonight," Eaves said.
 
Wisconsin will go for the series sweep tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the regular season finale. The game will be televised on BTN.