For the second night in a row, and continuing a theme of the season, the Badgers had a slow start coming out of the locker room in the first period. Once the second period rolled around, however, it was like a completely new Wisconsin team on the ice. It wasn’t the x’s or the o’s; but, simply Wisconsin just did whatever they could to find a way.
From the second period on, the Badgers found a way to make plays. It wasn’t always flashy, but Wisconsin (11-8-1-0) did just enough to find a way to put the puck in the net and climb back from a 2-1 deficit to a dominant 5-3 win over conference rival Minnesota (14-6-2) in front of what was nearly a full Kohl Center crowd.
“I think the versatility of all of our players is really great that you can mix and match guys, and you saw that in the second and third,” sophomore forward Will Johnson said. “Guys were just going out there and making plays and it worked out for us.”
A big reason why Wisconsin was able to flip that switch in the second two periods was the coaching staff finding a way to put their players in the best positions to succeed. In the second period, head coach Tony Granato and his staff completely switched the combinations of the first three lines, giving his team a much-needed spark.
“I just thought our rhythm in the first period tonight was no good, or not good enough, I should say. Especially if you look at lines one and two on the sheet,” Granato said. “I didn’t think they generated anything, I thought they were playing poor without the puck, and I thought we needed to mix it up a little bit—and they got going.”
Once the new line combinations were established, Granato’s team found a way to win 50-50 battles and establish a hard forecheck that created turnovers and opportunities. Three of Wisconsin’s five goals, including senior defenseman Corbin McGuire’s power play goal with the fourth line on the ice, were off rebounds or scrum plays.
“I mean that was a big goal at a big moment with three guys that deserved to be on the ice all weekend. They battled hard all weekend for us,” McGuire said. “For three years we’ve been the ‘special sauce’ power play unit, as the mock power play, so for us that was pretty standard for our mock power play unit.”
Still, the Badgers' effort and desire was not only apparent in the offensive zone, but was highlighted even more when they found a way to kill a huge five on three in the third period.
“That was big…They were confident, our PK was confident. Obviously, Matty [Jurusik] made some big saves on it,” Granato said. “Our guys were willing to stand in front of pucks and do the job and get it done and they did.”
Even with that huge kill, what highlighted the Badgers will to win was the play of their fourth line all weekend, which not only scored two goals, but created turnovers and momentum, and played in the Minnesota zone almost every time they were on the ice.
“I thought the fourth line both nights is how you have to play against Minnesota,” Granato said. “You got to win battles, you got to compete for every inch of ice, and they really set the tone for our team.”
All of the shot blocks and rebound battles and hard forechecks ultimately accumulated in a huge win for the Badgers, with them gaining ground on Minnesota in the Big Ten standings. Still, this game meant much more than just three points to Wisconsin.
“This is a huge win. This is a huge win for our team right now. This is a huge win for our program, huge win for our fans, and a huge win for the University of Wisconsin,” McGuire said. “This is why you decide to come to the University of Wisconsin.”
