One of the statistics that has stood out in Wisconsin’s struggles this season has been a third-period scoring margin deep in the red.
Through 23 games, the Badgers had allowed 19 more goals than they had scored in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
So there was some satisfaction for Wisconsin in scoring a season-high four times in the third period Saturday for a 5-2 victory over Alaska at the Kohl Center.
Jake Linhart broke a 2-2 tie, and Luke Kunin, Cameron Hughes and Matthew Freytag also scored third-period goals for the Badgers (6-12-6), who earned their second sweep of the season.
“We were rolling in the third,” Kunin said. “When we’re playing the way we want, good things are going to happen.”
The Badgers reversed some third-period trends Saturday, outscoring the Nanooks, 4-1, after being outscored 30-11 in the final 20 minutes of the first 23 games.
They outshot Alaska, 11-6, in the third; on the season, they had been outshot by 242-215 in the final period.
On Saturday, they blocked 10 Alaska shots in the third and 25 for the game.
“The guys were into it,” Badgers coach Mike Eaves said, “and they were doing what it takes to win.”
The Nanooks (7-15-4) lost captain and leading scorer Tyler Morley to an upper-body injury in the second period. Alaska coach Dallas Ferguson said Morley would be re-evaluated when the team gets back to Fairbanks.
They answered Kunin’s power-play goal early in the third period with Austin Vieth’s first goal of the season, but the Badgers took over from there.
Linhart made it 3-2 just 1:09 after Vieth’s goal, redirecting a Hughes pass past Davis Jones (29 saves). The play was initially ruled no-goal, but referees reversed the call after a video review.
Hughes added a power-play goal and Freytag gave the Badgers a 5-2 lead later in the third.
“We were creating some scoring chances,” Ferguson said. “They made some plays and finished and we made some plays and didn’t finish.”
The Badgers, who earned their first sweep since Oct. 30-31 against Arizona State, played without suspended defenseman Eddie Wittchow and forward Jedd Soleway.
Wisconsin was 2-for-3 on the power play, scoring multiple goals on the man advantage for the first time in 10 games.
Eaves said the coaching staff took the Badgers’ power-play units aside in the second intermission for a video session to study the Nanooks’ tendencies.
It paid off 50 seconds into the third when Adam Rockwood set up Kunin for a tap-in.
“They connected the dots and put the puck in the net,” Eaves said. “I think the little video session gave us some insight.”
