Two second period goals, one coming on the power play and one on the shorthand, currently stand as the difference as Wisconsin leads Maine, 3-1, through 40 minutes of play in Thursday’s second semifinal of the 2006 Frozen Four. <\/p>\n
The opening period saw each team feel one another out for most of the frame, with Wisconsin holding a slight 9-8 advantage in shots. The teams ended up even on the scoreboard thanks to two pucks bouncing off defensemen and into their own nets. <\/p>\n
Wisconsin was the first beneficiary when Adam Burish’s shot caromed off the hip of Maine blueliner Travis Wight at 10:11. Then, late in the period, a Michel Leveille shot hit the skate of Wisconsin’s Matt Olinger and bounded through the legs of goaltender Brian Elliott. <\/p>\n
The Leveille goal was the first allowed by Elliott in 270 minutes, 26 seconds. <\/p>\n
Early in the second, Wisconsin regained the lead, this time scoring shorthanded. Ross Carlson broke out of the zone with some speed, made a nifty move around Leveille, then set and fired a blast that beat Maine netminder Ben Bishop along the ice at 4:18. <\/p>\n
Maine had its chance to even the game, again shorthanded, when Greg Moore broke in on a two-on-one at 8:08. When Elliott made the save, the Badgers headed the other way on their own odd-man rush, and extended the lead eight seconds later. <\/p>\n
Robbie Earl’s snap shot from the right faceoff dot beat Bishop far side over the blocker to give the Badgers a 3-1 lead. <\/p>\n
The game was billed as a battle of special teams, Maine boasting the top penalty-kill in the nation and the third-best power play, while Wisconsin’s penalty-kill ranks third.<\/p>\n
Through two periods, though, Wisconsin owned the best of it, having scored with both the man-advantage and on the shorthand and killed all six Maine power plays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two second period goals, one coming on the power play and one on the shorthand, currently stand as the difference as Wisconsin leads Maine, 3-1, through 40 minutes of play in Thursday’s second semifinal of the 2006 Frozen Four. The opening period saw each team feel one another out for most of the frame, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n