MADISON, Wis. – The 11th-ranked Notre Dame hockey team rebounded with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin on Sunday night to split the weekend series with the Badgers at the Kohl Center.
Notre Dame never trailed, with Jesse Lansdell’s first period power-play goal giving Notre Dame a 1-0 lead, while Matthew Galajda made 30 saves in the win.
Hunter Strand and Trevor Janicke also scored for Notre Dame (21-9-0, 13-7-0-5-1-0 B1G).
Jared Moe finished with 31 saves for Wisconsin (9-20-3, 6-15-1-1-2-0).
Notre Dame was 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Badgers were 1-for-4.
How It Happened
Jesse Lansdell gave the Irish the early lead, scoring a power-play goal at 2:02 of the first period when he beat Moe from in close through the five hole, with assists going to Trevor Janicke and Spencer Stastney.
Notre Dame then turned around and killed a Badger power-play chance to maintain the lead.
Galajda made a pair of point blank saves just past the nine minute mark of the first to deny Mathieu De St. Phalle and keep the Irish in front.
Galajda made 15 saves in the opening 20 minutes as the Irish held onto the 1-0 lead after the first period of play.
The Irish opened the second with a couple of scoring chances, including Landon Slaggert and Trevor Janicke testing Moe on back-to-back shots just over three minutes into the period.
Notre Dame was able to extend the lead at 13:23 of the second when Hunter Strand notched his sixth of the season, with linemates Justin Janicke and Jack Adams earning the assists. The trio cycled down low, with Strand firing a low wrister snipe from the faceoff dot.
Max Ellis nearly made it 3-0 at 11:47 but his shorthanded breakaway attempt was denied by Moe.
Wisconsin made it a 2-1 game with a power-play goal at 3:23 and that is where the score would stand after two periods of play.
Cam Burke took a quick Grant Silianoff pass to break into the offensive zone and sent a wrister off the crossbar at 5:34 of the third.
Trevor Janicke got a piece of a Jake Boltmann blast from the point and redirected it low past Moe for his 12th goal of the season at 12:16 of the third to push the lead to 3-1, with the second assist going to Jake Pivonka.
Just after the Janicke goal, the Irish went back to work on the penalty kill, with the best scoring chance coming when Graham Slaggert’s cross-crease pass nearly set up Landon Slaggert at the back post but the pick skipped over his stick.
But Wisconsin got back to within one when Zach Urdahl made it a 3-2 game at 7:07 of the third.
The Irish limited any Badger chances from there on out and with 1:31 left in the third Wisconsin’s Roman Ahcan was whistled for a five minute major and a game misconduct after a high elbow in front of the benches.
The Irish held possession for the rest of the way to earn the win.
Notes
- With a goal and an assist, Trevor Janicke posted his sixth multi-point game of the season and the 10th of his career.
- Notre Dame is now 15-1-0 when scoring first this season.
- The Irish are also 19-0-0 when scoring at least three goals this season.
- The win was the 71st of Matthew Galajda’s career to move into a tie for 18th all-time (NCAA DI men).
Next Up
- Notre Dame is back on the road next weekend with a two-game set at Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 19.
- Both games are slated for Big Ten Plus.
– ND –