MADISON, Wis. – Four unanswered goals in the final 21 minutes of play helped the No. 4 Wisconsin men's hockey team take down Notre Dame, 4-2, on Friday night at the Kohl Center.
Notre Dame (14-13-2, 8-9-2 Big Ten) scored twice in the first period before Wisconsin (21-6-2, 12-4-1 Big Ten) tallied two in the final minute of the second to skate into the final frame tied up at two. Just over one minute into the third period, David Silye scored his second goal of the evening to give the Badgers the lead. Carson Bantle then tallied an empty-net goal with two minutes remaining in the contest to seal the conference victory for the Badgers.
The Fighting Irish got on the board first 8:25 into the first period after Hunter Strand shot the puck into a wide-open net on a back-door play.
Notre Dame doubled their lead with 2:36 remaining in the opening period on a tally from Tyler Carpenter.
Five minutes into the second period, the Badgers received a five-minute power play. Mathieu De St. Phalle found the back of the net on the man advantage but Notre Dame challenged the goal for offsides and won.
In the final minute of the second period, Wisconsin scored two goals 15 seconds apart to even the game.
Sophomore forward Christian Fitzgerald scored with 38 seconds left in the frame. In the middle of the Badgers' zone, sophomore defenseman Ben Dexheimer poked the puck to Fitzgerald, who used a burst of speed to skate up the ice and break into Notre Dame territory. On a two-on-one, the sophomore shot the puck past goaltender Ryan Bischel to bring the Badgers within one.
Fifteen seconds later, senior forward
David Silye tallied his fifth goal of the season. Sophomore forward
Cruz Lucius skated the puck from the neutral territory into UW's offensive zone before passing to his left to find Silye near the top of the left circle. Silye then passed up to senior defenseman
Anthony Kehrer in the middle of the ice. Kehrer took a shot before Silye put the rebound in to tie the game at two.
Silye lit the lamp again 1:18 into the third period after redirecting home a net-front pass from
Cruz Lucius.
With two minutes left in the contest, senior forward
Carson Bantle tallied an empty-netter to seal the deal for the Badgers.
Wisconsin went 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 38-23 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
- McClellan's 19 wins are the most for a UW goalie since Joel Rumpel had 21 in the 2013-14 season
- UW has 11 wins at home this season, the most since the 2013-14 team had 17
- The Badgers have killed 51 of 52 penalties at home
- Wisconsin continues to outscore its opponents 36-13 in third periods
- Tonight marked Wisconsin's second two-goal comeback win this season (last on Nov. 3 vs. Michigan - Came back to win 5-4 after being down 4-2)
- Sophomore forward
Simon Tassy tied his single-game career-high in assists with two
- With 38 Big Ten points, the Badgers stay within five points of Michigan State and have two games in hand
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On posting a comeback win at home
"When you play at home, you want to let the fans that come out and watch you play leave in the right way. We did that tonight, and I'm really happy for the guys because they stuck with it. There were a lot of opportunities to maybe pitch that tent and say tonight's not our night, but the guys didn't do that."
On Fitzgerald's goal
"I thought it completely flipped the script. All of a sudden, our bench had energy, the building had energy. Another thing is if you look at it, I will tell you it matters sometimes who scores, not just that you score. Fitzgerald, he's been gripping a little bit but boy, look at the couple of goals that he's scored in the last few games here. The overtime winner at Michigan, the goal tonight. I know he has family in town. So, for them to be able to experience that tonight, and like I said, hopefully, he'll be a guy that just continues to make progress because [Silye and Fitzgerald] were difference makers for us tonight."
Senior forward David Silye
On the comeback
"We started off in the first just kind of trying to battle, and obviously, gave up those two goals. So to get those two near the end [of the second] really gave us a good mood and kind of evened the playing field. Coming into the third, it was just a fresh start. So, I think it was more of a mindset thing for us we acted like it was 0-0 and we were able to get it done."
On being down two goals after the first period
"I think at the end of the day, there's 40 minutes left. So, you have a lot of time to get it back, which I don't think we were too scared about."
Sophomore forward Cruz Lucius
On scoring two goals in the final minute of the second
"With Fitzgerald's goal, [it felt good] just to get one and get that score to be even closer. I think we as lines went out there and [saw we] had some time left to get another one, so, that's what we wanted to do. I think the energy after the first goal really helped us get that second one too."
On staying positive
"I think that's something we've tried to work on. I think in the past we've been a little down and had trouble getting that energy back. Something we worked on this week was having that mentality that we're going to get everybody's best. In the first, I thought we got their best and we stayed positive, which I liked about our group – everybody stuck together. It took to the end of the second period to crack them, but we stayed with it and got some good chances early on. I think just staying positive was big for us."
Up Next: The Badgers continue their series against Notre Dame on Saturday, Feb. 10. The game starts at 6 p.m. and acts as 'Champions Night,' one of the six nights chosen for special recognition as part of UW's 75th season celebration. The contest streams on B1G+ while audio play-by-play airs on the Badgers Radio network, including 1310 WIBA in the Madison area and 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee. It also airs on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network app. Follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
