MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's hockey team honored its senior class on Saturday night, and everyone chipped in to help send those three seniors out on a high note.

Penn State took a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the first period, but the Badgers (7-17-8, 2-12-4-2 Big Ten) scored four consecutive goals and got 46 saves from goaltender Matt Jurusik to topple the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions, 4-3 at the Kohl Center.

"The big thing about this tonight is when we went in for the intermission between the second and the third, we talked about what we needed to do to go out and win the third period," UW head coach Mike Eaves said. "Although it was not the way it was drawn up in terms of shots and giving up goals, we found a way to hang in there with Matty (Jurusik) playing really well."

It was Jurusik who stole the show for UW when PSU (20-10-5, 10-7-1-1 Big Ten) made a push down the stretch. Jurusik ended the second period with a pair of leg saves on David Goodwin's breakaway to keep UW up 4-1 and the momentum in its favor.

Jurusik translated that momentum to the third period. UW leaned heavily on the freshman Jurusik in the final period of regulation with Penn State trying to climb back from a three-goal deficit. Jurusik stood on his head, making 19 stops in the final 20 minutes alone to stave off the PSU rally.

Penn State drew within two with 10:46 left in the game when Goodwin slapped a one-timer past Jurusik with the Nittany Lions on the power play. Exactly nine minutes later with 1:46 left in the game, PSU trimmed the lead to just one when Andrew Sturtz poked home his own rebound on a short-handed rush.

Just 43 seconds later UW defenseman Kevin Schulze was called for hooking, which resulted in a four-on-four for 23 seconds before Penn State got a power play for the remainder of the game. The Nittany Lions also pulled netminder Chris Funkey for an extra attacker, but the Badgers weathered the storm in the final 40 seconds to earn the series split.

"We've been in a lot of games and we always talk about getting over the hump," sophomore Jason Ford said. "Tonight was the first step in that and it's good timing for us as Big Ten playoffs are coming up here."

Wisconsin's offense provided Jurusik with the three-goal cushion that proved to be just enough for Jurusik to work with.
UW scored twice within a five-minute span in the first period to take the lead from Penn State, and the Badgers added two more goals in a 1:04 stretch in the early stages of the second period to grab the 4-1 lead.

It all started with the power play, as UW converted on its second power-play chance of the night. Freshman Luke Kunin set up Jedd Soleway in the right circle, and Soleway slapped the puck past PSU's Eamon McAdam, who started the night in goal before getting pulled in the second period. It was Soleway's fifth goal of season, snapping an 18-game stretch without a goal and coming at the 10:48 mark of the first.

Just 4:27 later, Ford tapped home a rebound for his first goal of the season, halting a goal drought of 52 games, to give the Badgers the lead for good.

"I think if you look at any level and you look at games that are won, games where the supporting cast scores goals, chances are you're going to win those games," Eaves said.
Wisconsin then found the back of the net twice more in the first six minutes of the second period to put the momentum squarely in its favor."

Aidan Cavallini helped set up the third goal, twirling below the left goal line to create space before finding Matthew Freytag in the left circle. Freytag sent the one-timer past McAdam to make it a 3-1 UW lead at the 4:46 mark. 

A little more than a minute later, Grant Besse found defenseman Corbin McGuire on a cross-ice feed, and McGuire beat McAdam from point blank to chase the PSU netminder.
Wisconsin had a chance to increase it to a four-goal lead in a wacky sequence at the end of the second. With UW on a power play, Ryan Wagner got hooked from behind on a breakaway that was initially ruled to be a penalty shot. Wisconsin elected to take the penalty instead, giving it a five-on-three power play.

At the end of the power play, Wisconsin had a two-on-one rush into the PSU zone, but Funkey came up with a stop on Ryan Wagner. The Nittany Lions translated that into a rush of their own, as Goodwin got behind the UW defense. But Jurusik came up with the two pad stops just after Penn State had killed off both penalties to keep UW ahead by three.

Both of Jurusik's two highest save performances this season have come against the Nittany Lions. He had a career-high 54 saves against Penn State on Jan. 15.

"It's wind in our sails. It gives us some hope," Eaves said of the win. "We did some good things this weekend. Last night, we lost the game, but we did some tremendous things and didn't give up much. That gives us a little confidence in our ability to play."

Wisconsin closes out the regular season next weekend with a trip to Minnesota. Friday's game will be televised by ESPNEWS, and Saturday's contest will air on BTN. Both games are at 7 p.m.