A game of unanswered goals ended in about the most poetic way possible, as the Wisconsin Badgers and Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks decided a 3-3 tie game in a shootout.
The former WCHA foes each had multi-goal runs against each other, as the Mavericks erased a 1-0 Badgers lead with three unanswered goals. Wisconsin responded with two unanswered goals in the final two periods to push the game in to overtime.
While the two teams couldn’t get anything past either netminder in overtime, the Badgers came away with a 2-0 win in the shootout. The game will go down as a tie, but the shootout win will also go in to the PairWise formula in favor of the Badgers.
Wisconsin knew it needed to set the tone for this game early on, and it appeared they were going to do just that. The Badgers got off on the front foot with Ryan Wagner’s fourth goal of the season giving UW a 1-0 lead at the 7:04 mark of the first period.
It should’ve been a catalyst for things to come for Wisconsin, but instead it was the visitors that awoke after that goal.
Just over two minutes later and the Mavericks Teemu Pulkkinen evened things up at 1-1 at the 9:38 mark of the period. It was the first of three unanswered, including a short-handed effort from Fredrick Olofsson (2) to make it 3-1 wth 1:57 left to play in the first period.
Things could’ve been worse for the Badgers if it weren’t for goaltender Jack Berry’s effort, stopping 12 of 15 Mavericks shots. However, he was out-dueled in the first period by Omaha’s Evan Weninger, who took care of business despite leaving a lot of garbage in front of his net.
Weninger had 15 of his 47 saves on the night in the first period alone, and frustrated Wisconsin’s offense on multiple occasions in this one.
No player seemed more snake-bit on Friday night than Grant Besse. He created chance after chance for himself and his team, but nothing seemed to click. That included a miss on a golden chance immediate upon his release from the penalty box.
After taking the long pass up ice, Besse couldn’t get the puck off his stick and was stoned by Weninger.
However, his frustration wouldn’t stop his effort and Besse was rewarded with a goal at the 16:00 mark of the second period, making it 3-2 Omaha. It was his sixth of the season with assists from Jake Linhart (8) and Max Zimmer (3).
It's a tie game! @BadgerMHockey ties it up at 3-3 with Omaha to keep it interesting in the 3rd period! #OMAHAvsUW pic.twitter.com/TXnW5dwuul
— American Sports Network // ASN (@LiveOnASN) December 3, 2016
It was about time too, as Wisconsin out-worked the Mavericks on offense in the second period to a 16-6 advantage in shots on goal. Part of that big disparity came from Wisconsin’s consistent effort on two power play opportunities in the period.
Meanwhile, a porous defense buckled down for the most part. UW was also lucky, as Omaha missed a few point-blank shots alongside the Badgers during the period.
Besse’s good fortune rubbed off on the rest of the team, as Wisconsin was able to tie up the contest as Peter Tischke riffled a shot from the top of the left face-off circle to easily beat Weninger at the 3:46 mark of the final period of regulation.
It's a tie game! @BadgerMHockey ties it up at 3-3 with Omaha to keep it interesting in the 3rd period! #OMAHAvsUW pic.twitter.com/TXnW5dwuul
— American Sports Network // ASN (@LiveOnASN) December 3, 2016
Wisconsin continued to pepper Weninger, but the Mavericks netminder wouldn’t let anything else by him for the rest of regulation on 20 total shots by the Badgers in the third period alone.
Neither team put much pressure on the other, except for a Kunin effort from a difficult angle that bounced and nearly caught Weninger off-guard in the overtime period.
Kunin would get revenge though, as he would circle around and wrist a shot past Weninger to give the Badgers all it needed in the shootout. Sophomore forward Seamus Malone made sure to get UW the “win” with a crazy effort on the third and final penalty shot of the night.
Check out the two goals that sealed the deal for @BadgerMHockey in the OT shootout against Omaha! #OMAHAvsUW @B1GHockey pic.twitter.com/fJCNQtC5P9
— American Sports Network // ASN (@LiveOnASN) December 3, 2016
The two teams will try to decide a winner in the series as they meet tomorrow night at 8p.m. CT with the game on The Wisconsin Channel (for those of you not in to the Big Ten championship game going on at the same time).
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