MADISON, WIS. – Rebounding from a tough shutout loss on Friday night, the No. 18 Wisconsin men's hockey team battled hard from start to finish and secured a 5-2 win over Michigan State (9-14-1, 3-10-1-1 Big Ten) on Saturday night in front of a season-high crowd at the Kohl Center.
 
The Badgers saw goals from five different players in the win, including power-play and short-handed tallies.
 
Wisconsin started the game off on the right foot, scoring a power-play goal at the 8:37 mark of the first period after going 0-for-4 on the man advantage in the series opener. Freshman defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk drew the Spartans wide and shot towards freshman Sean Dhooghe, who redirected the puck past John Lethemon and gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead that would hold through the first frame.
 
The Spartans tied the game up, 1-1, late in the second, but sophomore Trent Frederic put the Badgers back in the lead late in the frame, scoring on a short-handed breakaway. Junior Seamus Malone intercepted a pass at the Wisconsin blue line and chipped the puck up ice to Frederic, whose initial shot deflected off Lethemon's pad, but Frederic collected the rebound and potted it for his ninth goal of the season.
 
Wisconsin netted two goals in a 42-second span to take a 4-1 lead in the start of the final period. Senior Ryan Wagner gave Wisconsin a two-goal lead at 1:36, shooting from the top of the circles, before sophomore JD Greenway score at 2:18 on a slapshot from almost the exact spot on the ice as Wagner to make it 4-1.
 
Michigan State cut the lead to 4-2 on a power-play goal of its own midway through the third stanza, but Malone sailed in an empty-netter from the Badgers' zone to top off the 5-2 victory.
 
Senior goaltender Kyle Hayton made 16 saves in the win, including a glove save while in the splits late in the third to preserve the Wisconsin lead.
 
Notes to Know
-Wisconsin scored its first short-handed goal of the year on Frederic's second-period score.
-Freshman defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk leads the Badgers in Big Ten conference scoring with 13 points (1 goal, 12 assists) after adding a helper on Sean Dhooghe's goal.
-Seamus Malone (1 goal, 1 assist) and freshman Tarek Baker (2 assists) shared the team lead in points.
-The Badgers outshot Michigan State 26-18, including a 13-6 shot margin in the second period.
-Wisconsin had a season-high 13,735 fans in attendance
 
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On the team's sense of urgency
"That was an exciting game. We were into it because the crowd was into it and the crowd was into it because we were into it. It was a great crowd, especially with the students not being back yet. It was great to see. When you walk out to the bench to start the game and look around and see that many people in the building you see how much support we have. It was really important for us to bounce back and show our fans how hard we can play, and when we do play that hard how much fun it is to watch. I thought it was a very exciting game from start to finish.
 
"We are going to play the best team in the country next week. If we play the way we did tonight, we'll have a really good chance to do well. We had two great games against them a month or so ago. We were in a position to win both of those games and now it's time to figure out how to beat a top team and have a more consistent play. We are looking forward to that challenge next weekend."
 
On closing out the game in the third period
"I thought that was a great start to the (third) period. We had a lot of energy between the periods so I felt good about the energy that was in the locker room throughout the game, during the game, and on the bench, the best it's been all year. (Michigan) State played tough. They battled and made it tough for us. They came off last night's win with a lot of confidence."  
 
On keeping performances like tonight's going
"We don't have a choice. Our team is good enough to make the tournament. We've put ourselves in position where we have to perform. We have to get results. The solid performance by Kyle (Hayton) tonight again, he kept us in the game. It wasn't a ton of action for him on the weekend but if you look at the last four performances he's had, they are probably back-to-back-to-back-to-back the best four he's had all year as far as consistency goes. So that's encouraging if we continue to help him and keep his shots down, keep his secondary shots down and his rebounds in check, I think he's got a really good chance to have a great second half." 
 
On crashing the goal
"I thought our ability and willingness to battle and get around (Lethemon) made it harder on him tonight and kept him deeper in the net. It seemed like we were around the net an awful lot tonight and seemed to have a lot of screens and tips and pucks around there so offensively we did battle for that position a lot better tonight."
 
Freshman defenseman Josh Ess
On getting the defense involved in the attack
"In practice all we week, we've been working on D jumping in the rush to get that extra layer back. It's all about the breakout, with the weak-side D jumping in the play."
 
On leaving with a win
"Obviously it's good to finish a weekend with a win after last night's loss. It's good momentum going into next weekend, and we'll have to use that as energy. We'll look at what we did positively tonight and keep it rolling."
 
Senior forward Ryan Wagner
On setting the tone in the third period
"It was huge. A big thing we've been talking about is energy on the bench. I think once we got rolling and JD (Greenway) scored and I scored, and even when (Michigan State) got the goal, the energy was always positive on the bench. I think moving forward, that's what it's going to have to take to close out games, and even to come back in games."
 
On effort from veteran players
"It's awesome to see. Especially talking about the freshman, all of them have stepped in and played major roles, but we can't rely on just them. Big guys stepped up tonight like (Fredric) and (Malone) and even JD (Greenway), after coming back from his absence. It's nice to see. Kyle (Hayton) was outstanding both games, and he gave us a chance to win. It was great."
 
Sophomore forward Trent Frederic
On his goal
"It was a nice play by (Seamus Malone), and I got my own rebound. Obviously I haven't scored in a while. Especially with the break, it's been a while since I've potted one there so it felt pretty good to get that off my back."
 
On the feed from Seamus (Malone)
"It was a really nice pass. He's a really skilled player. He makes those passes throughout the game and I was lucky to be the one who got it."
 

Up Next
Wisconsin travels to play No. 1 Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, on Friday, Jan. 19 before the teams travel to Chicago to face off at the United Center on Sunday, Jan. 21. Friday's game is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) while Sunday's game is a 2 p.m. tilt.