MADISON, Wis. – Mathieu De St. Phalle's power-play goal with 6.5-seconds left in regulation lifted the No. 5 Wisconsin men's hockey team past No. 4 Michigan on Saturday night in front of 12,218 fans at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers (9-1-0, 4-0-0 Big Ten) kept a 1-0 lead for most of the game until Michigan (5-4-1, 1-2-1 Big Ten) tied it up early in the third. The final frame stayed calm until Mathieu De St. Phalle found the back of the net on the power play with 6.5-seconds left in regulation to win it for Wisconsin.
Senior forwards De St. Phalle and Carson Bantle had multi-point nights, each tallying a goal and an assist. Senior goaltender Kyle McClellan put up yet another stellar performance, stopping 28 of Michigan's shots on goal.
Carson Bantle got the Badgers on the board first with a power-play goal. Senior forward David Silye passed from deep in the right of Michigan's zone to find Bantle in front of goaltender Jacob Barczewski. Bantle shot it into Barczewski's pads, and senior forward Mathieu De St. Phalle tried to shoot it again on the rebound. The shot deflected off Bantle and in to give Wisconsin the lead.
Each team had two power-play chances in the second period, but neither could capitalize.
Wisconsin skated into the third period with a 1-0 lead, but Michigan tied the game just over one minute into the final frame on a shot from Garrett Schifsky.
The scoreboard remained quiet until Michigan challenged a shot, thinking it should be a goal. After review showed the shot hit the crossbar, it was no goal, and having already used their timeout, the Wolverines were assessed an automatic delay-of-game penalty to put Wisconsin on a power play with less than two minutes left in the third.
The Badgers pushed hard on the man advantage until De St. Phalle lit the lamp with 6.5- seconds left in the game to put the 12,000+ fans in the Kohl Center on their feet.
Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On the team's performance
"That was a hard first 10 minutes. They had the puck for the majority of it and we had a little bit of a bend-but-not-break piece. And then when we had our opportunity on the power play, we took advantage of it. That allowed the crowd to get into it. Again, for the second night in a row, we drew some energy from that and like I said, I'm glad we were playing at home this weekend."
Senior forward Mathieu De St. Phalle
On the support from the crowd
"I just think it gives us that belief factor. Kind of like you said, just the energy of the crowd when this place is full, I haven't heard anything louder than that in a long time, so it's kind of easy for us to build off of that."
Senior goaltender Kyle McClellan
On pushing past a difficult Michigan team
"I think this team, in general, we never give up. So that's one of the things that I always have in the back of my head is that we're not going to quit. No matter what they had coming towards us, I knew in the back of my head we're going to keep going."
Notes to know:
- Wisconsin's 9-1-0 record to start the season is its best since going 10-1-0 to start the 1999-00 season
- This marks the Badgers' sixth-straight win against a ranked team and fourth-straight win against programs ranked in the top five
- The two power-play goals scored tonight mark Wisconsin's fifth-straight game with a power-play goal, with the team scoring eight goals on 22 power-play chances over the last five games
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Mathieu De St. Phalle scored his team-best sixth-career game-winning goal
- Tonight's crowd of 12,218 is the highest since Jan. 29, 2022, when we had 12,231 in a game against fourth-ranked Michigan
- Five of Wisconsin's six consecutive victories were won with a third-period goal
- The Badgers' six-game win streak is the longest since UW won six games from Dec. 6-28, 2013
Up Next: The Badgers have a week off before a pair of games on the road at Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan, on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17-18. Puck drop for Friday's game is set for 6:30, while Saturday's start time is still to be announced. Both games are available to stream live on B1G+ while audio play-by-play will be available on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network App. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
