The Big Ten hockey experiment may be working after all, as the best crowd of the season was treated a great hockey game on Friday night at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin treated the crowd to free ice cream and a win, beating visiting Ohio State 5-3 in the series opener.
It was a true team effort for the Badgers, who got all five of their goals from different players. Yet, three UW skaters netted multi-point games, led by Tyler Barnes' 1 goal, 2 assist effort. Joining Barnes with multi-point games were Mark Zengerle (2 assists) and Jake McCabe (1 goal, 1 assist).
McCabe started off the scoring on the night, putting the Badgers ahead 1-0 at the 2:20 mark of the first period on a pretty goal off a face-off.
However, the biggest highlight of the night was reserved for last, as freshman Jedd Soleway was credited with his first career goal off a Jake McCabe blast to put the Badgers up 5-3 late in the contest.
Soleway's goal was also a power play goal, coming at the 18:28 mark of the 3rd period.
With the win the Badgers kept the Kohl Center momentum going. Not only are they now owners of a four-game home win streak, the Badgers are also 13-1-1 at home on the season.
Despite all that went right, there was one area the Badgers would've loved to have shorn up in the win—penalties.
UW committed six of them on the night, and Ohio State got two of its three goals on the night off its power play, upping its total to 22 power play goals on the season.
The fact that OSU scored on the power play shouldn't be too surprising, considering it came in ranked No. 7 in the country. However, the ease with which its power play goals was a bit alarming. OSU finished the night 2-of-6 on the power play.
Wisconsin dominated the offensive effort on the night as well, outshooting the Buckeyes 29-26, with most of UW's offense coming with the teams at even-strength.
Despite letting in three goals, Joel Rumpel kept it from being utter disaster for the Badgers. He stopped 23 shots and improved his record to 11-1-0 between the pipes.
These two teams will tangle once more on Saturday, with the puck drop set for 8pm CT. Television coverage will be on Fox Sports Wisconsin +.
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