MADISON, Wis. — Alex Steeves and Graham Slaggert scored for the Irish but fifth-ranked Wisconsin came back to defeat Notre Dame, 4-2, on Friday night at La Bahn Arena in game one of the weekend series.
Steeves and Slaggert each had a goal and an assist, while Landon Slaggert had a pair of assists. Linus Weissbach led the Wisconsin offense with the game winner and empty net tallies in the third.
Dylan St. Cyr made 30 saves in the Notre Dame (10-12-1) goal, including 14 in the first period. Robbie Beydoun finished with 29 saves for Wisconsin (15-8-0).
The Irish were 0-for-2 on the power play, while Wisconsin finished 1-for-3 as Notre Dame’s penalty kill moved to 19-for-20 on the road this season.
How It Happened
The Irish took a 1-0 lead just 31 seconds into the game as Alex Steeves fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that was deflected high past Robbie Beydoun with Landon Slaggert driving hard to the net. Both Landon and Graham Slaggert earned the assists on Steeves’ 11th goal of the season.
Graham Slaggert pushed the lead to 2-0 at 8:28 of the first when he slammed a one-timer past Beydoun for his sixth of the season, with Landon Slaggert and Alex Steeves providing the assists.
St. Cyr stopped all 14 shots he faced in the first as the Irish held the 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Wisconsin got on the board at 3:22 of the second period when Owen Lindmark finished an odd-man rush for his fourth goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game.
Cole Caufield then tied it up at 9:37 of the second while the Badgers were on the power play.
On the shift following the Caulfield goal, Ryder Rolston almost scored on a rebound but his backhander hit the post.
Chances later in the period by Jake Pivonka and Colin Theisen were turned aside by Beydoun as the second period ended tied at 2-2.
A back-and-forth start to the third saw chances at both ends. St. Cyr made a big stop on a Brock Caufield one-timer at 7:57 of the third. But then at 8:18 Linus Weissbach gave the Badgers their first lead of the game with his ninth goal of the season.
The Irish killed off another Wisconsin power play past the midway point of the third.
Searching for the tying goal, St. Cyr was pulled with 1:19 left in the third but Weissbach added an empty netter for the final 4-2 scoreline.
Notes
- Senior Matt Hellickson skated in his 140th-consecutive game, dating back to the first game of his freshman season.
- With a goal and an assist, Alex Steeves posted his fourth multi-point game of the season and the 11th of his career.
- With a goal and an assist, Graham Slaggert posted his fifth multi-point game of the season and the sixth of his career.
- With two assists, Landon Slaggert posted his fifth multi-point game of the season/his career.
- With a penalty kill in the first period, Notre Dame improved to 18-for-18 on the road this season on the penalty kill before Cole Caufield snapped that streak on Wisconsin’s next power-play chance (now 19-for-20 on the road this season).
Next Up
- Notre Dame and Wisconsin close out their regular-season series tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET in a game that will be broadcast on Fox Sports Wisconsin and streamed on BTN Plus.
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