MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's hockey team (9-11-4, 5-5-4-1 B1G) rounds out its four-game road stint with a trip east to take on the Michigan State Spartans (9-13-4, 5-8-3-2 B1G). The Badgers earned a series split on the road against Minnesota last weekend, dropping the series opener before earning a 4-3 victory in Saturday's finale.Â
Friday's game against the Green and White is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start, while Saturday's contest begins at 4:30 p.m. (CT). Saturday's game will be televised on the BTN.
Here are six notes to know ahead of the Badgers' series against the Spartans.
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OH SNAP: The Badgers' snapped a five-game winless slide after notching a 4-3 win over Minnesota last Saturday. Senior captain
Peter Tischke notched his third-career game-winner in the victory, and freshman goaltender
Daniel Lebedeff made 29 stops between the pipes for the Badgers.
MESSIN' AROUND: Freshman center
Mick Messner tallied two goals against the Golden Gophers last weekend, one in each contest. The rookie forward owns five goals and seven points in 24 games for Wisconsin. Messner has recorded a point in three of the Badgers' four games against Minnesota this season.
FROM THE BLUE LINE: The Badgers' defensive corps has been well represented on the scoresheet this season, combining for 13 goals and 68 points from the blue line. The Badgers' 68 points from defensemen pace the Big Ten and are tied for fourth in the nation with No. 15 Penn State and No. 1 St. Cloud State. Freshman rear guard
K'Andre Miller leads both Wisconsin and Big Ten rookie defensemen in scoring with five goals and 20 points in 22 games.
PLAYING LIKE VETS: Wisconsin's freshmen continue to be an essential component of the Badgers' offense this year. Eight of UW's nine first-years have recorded points for the Badgers, including goaltender
Daniel Lebedeff who notched an assist in the Badgers' series opener against Notre Dame. UW's freshman class leads all Big Ten rookie classes in scoring so far this season, notching 47 points in conference play and 75 total points in regular season action.
Notably, forward
Roman Ahcan has three points in the last four games, including two goals against the Fighting Irish, and rookie linemates
Dominick Mersch (3G, 2A) and
Brock Caufield (2G, 3A) each have five points in the last five games.
PENALTY KILL WOES: The Badgers struggled on the penalty kill last weekend against Minnesota, going 3-for-9 when down a man and allowing three power-play goals in each game. The Badgers penalty kill was key in Saturday's victory, however. Despite giving up three goals, UW killed both third-period penalties to grab and hold the lead. Following the weekend, the Badgers' then-56th ranked penalty kill has since dropped down to 60th with a 71.3 percent success rate. However, the Badgers' 19.6 percent power play continues to rank among the top 25 in the country at No. 22. All seven Big Ten programs have power plays ranked among the top 27 in the nation.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS: The Spartans enter their second and final series against the Badgers with a 9-13-4 overall record and 5-8-3-2 record in Big Ten play. Michigan State skated to a 6-3 loss and a 1-1 tie last weekend against Notre Dame, grabbing one of six possible points.
Michigan State's top line continues to be its most valuable asset, with the trio of juniors Taro Hirose and Patrick Khodorenko and sophomore Mitchell Lewandowski accounting for nearly half of the Spartans' points. Hirose is the nation's leading scorer with 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) in 26 games. Freshman goaltender Drew DeRidder and junior John Lethemon have continued to split time in the net for the Spartans. Both goaltenders saw time in the net during the Spartans' first series against the Badgers.
UW enters its series against Michigan State with a 55-54-3 series mark. After sweeping the Spartans with 5-3 and 3-0 wins last December, the Badgers have a winning mark against the Spartans for the first time in school history.
