No. 1 Wisconsin won a shootout victory on a goal by Hilary Knight after skating to a 4-4 overtime tie with No. 6 Minnesota Duluth at AMSOIL Arena Saturday night. The Bulldogs rallied from a 4-2 third-period deficit to send the game to overtime.
Wisconsin led 3-1 after two periods and maintained the two-goal lead at 4-2 midway through the final stanza. However, UMD used goals by Tara Gray and Jamie Kenyon in the game’s final 2:31 to tie the score at four and send it to overtime.
Both teams saw scoring opportunities in the extra frame, as the Badgers outshot UMD, 5-4, in five-minute period. The Bulldogs used the momentum from their thrilling third-period comeback to kill off a penalty in overtime and hold Wisconsin scoreless.
Knight was Wisconsin;s shootout heroine, breaking a 1-1 tie as the Badgers’ final shooter. Junior Brooke Ammerman also scored for UW in the shootout, and Elin Holmlov scored UMD’s lone shootout goal.
With the tie, the Badgers remain unbeaten in their last 12 games.
Freshman goaltender Alex Rigsby made 23 saves, and UMD netminder Jennifer Harss recorded 39 stops. Wisconsin outshot the Bulldogs, 43-27, including a 17-5 advantage in the first period.
The Badgers took a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Madison Packer scored her eighth goal of the year. Packer picked up a loose puck off a Bulldogs turnover and skated up the right side to beat Harss on a shot from the slot.
Sophomore Brianna Decker increased Wisconsin’s lead to 2-0 when she received a pass from senior Meghan Duggan in the slot at 12:37 of the first period. Ammerman also picked up an assist on the play.
At 8:29 of the second period, Kacy Ambroz put the Bulldogs on the board when she snuck the puck past Rigsby. However, junior Carolyne Prevost responded for the Badgers, giving UW a 3-1 lead at 15:22.
Midway through the third period, Minnesota-Duluth’s Jessica Wong made it 3-2 on a power-play goal. The Badgers again answered when Knight scored off a feed from Packer, picking up the puck in the slot and ripping a shot past Harss to regain UW’s two-goal lead at 4-2 with 9:26 remaining.
With the home crowd and a new arena on their side, the Bulldogs pressured late in the game. UMD scored its second power-play tally of the night with 2:31 to play as Gray converted on the man advantage to put the Bulldogs within one. UMD then tied the game with 1:14 left in regulation as Kenyon stuffed one past Rigsby to send the game to overtime.
Five different Badgers scored goals, and nine UW players picked up points in the team’s first tie of the season. The game also marked Wisconsin’s first shootout of the 2010-11 campaign.
The Badgers return to action at the Kohl Center next weekend when they host Minnesota in a Friday-Saturday series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. both nights, and Saturday’s game marks the Fill the Bowl game.
