DULUTH, Minn. – It's no surprise that Wisconsin women's hockey junior Kirsten Simms had a meaningful goal at AMSOIL Arena on Friday night.

Two years after scoring the game-winning goal in Duluth to lead UW to its seventh NCAA title, Simms scored the game-winner in overtime to lead the No. 1 Badgers (25-1-2, 20-1-2-0-0-1 WCHA) to a 2-1 win at No. 6 Minnesota Duluth (15-10-2, 10-9-2).  

The win extended Wisconsin's unbeaten run to 15 games. Marianne Picard joined Simms on the scoresheet to help the Badgers to their 20th conference win of the season.

The Bulldogs scored on a tipped shot just under eight minutes into the game. 

The Badgers equalized about five minutes later. Caroline Harvey leaped to glove the puck back into the offensive zone. Sarah Wozniewicz took a shot that was saved and Kelly Gorbatenko took a second opportunity shot that was saved again. The puck trickled out to the right face-off circle and Picard took a long shot that beat UMD's Ève Gascon blocker side. Wisconsin outshot the Bulldogs 15-9 in the first but the game went into the first intermission level at one.

Wisconsin had an opportunity on the power play to end the second period but a Gorbatenko penalty cut that opportunity short. McNaughton put together a strong 12 save second period. The Badgers killed off the remaining penalty time in the period to send the game into third period still tied at 1-1. 

The Badger penalty killers took care of the remainder of the penalty at the top of the third period and then killed off another penalty five minutes later. Wisconsin killers another penalty to keep the game level with under five minutes left in the period. Neither team was able to break the deadlock and the game headed into overtime. 

Simms finally broke the ice to win the Badgers the game in overtime. Casey O'Brien sent a cross-ice pass to Simms. Simms took a shot that Bulldog's Gascon saved but couldn't handle and Simms tucked the rebound into the back of the net.

McNaughton put together a strong performance between the pipes, stopping 27 of 28 shots for the sophomore's 25th win of the season.

Notes of the Game

• McNaughton's 25 wins are the 10th-most in a single season by a Badger goaltender.
• O'Brien moved into a tie for seventh place in NCAA history with her 156th career assist. 
• Wisconsin outshot UMD 42-28, including a 5-0 advantage in the extra period. 

Straight from the Rink 
Junior forward Kirsten Simms 
On playing at AMSOIL Arena:
"I take it game by game. I wouldn't say there's anything different, but obviously, its fun coming back here, especially after winning the national championship as a team. It's always nice to come back to a place where we have some exciting memories. That always give us a little more energy coming into this building."

On the overtime winner:
"I had Casey [O'Brien] on the other side of me. Typically I like to pass but she was screaming at me to shoot so I had to take the shot and the rebound was there so I kept at it a couple times and it ended up going in."

On the rematch on Saturday:
"It's the second half of the season and that's when you see every team's best, so they're going to give us a game and throw everything at us, but we'll give it right back.

Up Next: The Badgers wrap up their time in the Twin Ports with a 3 p.m. game against UMD on Saturday. Fans can watch in the Madison area on Me-TV (Channel 15-2) or listen to Paul Braun and Mark Greenhalgh on 1070 The Game.