MADISON, Wis. — Notre Dame rallied with four goals in the third period to ultimately skate to a 5-5 overtime tie with fifth-ranked Wisconsin on Saturday evening at La Bahn Arena.
In the shootout, Max Ellis scored and Dylan St. Cyr denied Cole Caufield, Dylan Halloway and Ty Pelton-Byce to seal the extra point in the Big Ten standings.
The Irish had been trailing 3-1 after two periods of play but responded in the third.
“It was just about playing for pride,” head coach Jeff Jackson said after the game. “I thought [in] the second period we were on our heels and they dominated usas we did a poor job managing the puck … I was really proud to see how they responded in the third.”
Alex Steeves had a pair of goals for Notre Dame to bring his season total to 13, while Colin Theisen had a goal and an assist and Max Ellis and Landon Slaggert each had a pair of assists.
St. Cyr finished with 39 saves on the night, including 18 in a busy second period. In the Wisconsin net Cameron Rowe finished with 31 saves.
On special teams, Notre Dame was 1-for-2 while Wisconsin was 1-for-3.
How It Happened
The Irish struck first when Trevor Janicke got to the net and knocked a deflected Jesse Lansdell pass in for his second goal of the season at 4:38 of the first period. Colin Theisen also had an assist on the play.
Freshman defenseman Jake Boltmann hammered a point shot off the post midway through the first and then Theisen had a chance as he was sent in on a breakaway by a Jake Pivonka chip pass, but after the puck found its way through Rowe it hit the post with seven minutes left in the opening frame.
Wisconsin was able to tie it up at 14:55 of the first when Ty Pelton-Byce dug the puck out from under St. Cyr and forced it across the goal line while the Badgers were on the power play.
The Irish killed off another Wisconsin power play and the first came to a close tied at 1-1.
Five and a half minutes into the second, St. Cyr made a big pad stop to deny Dominick Mersch on a two-on-one chance.
Then the Irish killed off a Badger power play that started midway through the second, but just seven seconds after it expired Wisconsin crashed the net and took a 2-1 lead on a Roman Ahcan goal.
Max Ellis had Notre Dame’s next good look with 3:45 left in the second, but Rowe fought off the wrist shot from the slot with his glove.
Then with 20.8 seconds left in the period, Cole Caufield extended the lead to 3-1 when he converted a cross-ice feed for his 19th goal of the season.
Seven seconds into a power-play chance Alex Steeves got the Irish back within one with a one-timer from the faceoff circle, with the feed coming from Nick Leivermann. Landon Slaggert also had an assist on the goal, which came at 7:18 of the third.
Just 59 seconds later Max Ellis slid a cross-ice pass to Colin Theisen on a two-on-one chance and the senior buried his sixth goal of the season to tie the game, 3-3.
Wisconsin answered back at 11:11 when Linus Weissbach scored to give the Badgers a 4-3 lead.
Alex Steeves’ second goal of the night, a wrist shot from the slot, evened the score once again with 6:18 to go in the third.
Just 36 seconds later, Solag Bakich buried a feed from Ellis on a two-on-one rush to give Notre Dame a 5-4 advantage.
With Rowe pulled in favor of the extra attacker, Ty Pelton-Byce tied the game back up on a wrist shot following an offensive zone faceoff win with 27 seconds left in regulation.
The Badgers were whistled for a penalty just 15 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime, and despite quality chances by Landon Slaggert, Leivermann and Alex Steeves, the Irish were unable to convert on the 4-on-3 advantage.
With a second B1G point up for grabs in the shootout, Ellis scored in the second round and St. Cyr stopped all three shooters he faced to clinch two points for the Irish.
Notes
- Senior Matt Hellickson skated in his 141st-consecutive game, dating back to the first game of his freshman season.
- Trevor Janicke scored his second goal of the season and first since Dec. 3 versus Arizona State.
- Dylan St. Cyr made a season high 39 saves.
- With two goals, Alex Steeves posted his fifth multi-point game of the season and the 12th of his career.
- With two assists, Landon Slaggert posted his sixth multi-point game of the season/his career.
- With a goal and an assist, Colin Theisen posted his third multi-point game of the season and the 13th of his career.
- With a pair of assists, Max Ellis posted his fourth multi-point game of the season/his career.
Next Up
- The Irish will play their final regular-season road series next weekend at Michigan State (Feb. 26-27).
- Puck drop times and streaming broadcast details will be announced in the coming days.
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