It turns out the Wisconsin men’s hockey team didn’t need the win to secure home ice for the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
Nonetheless the Badgers’ 7-3 win over No. 6 Penn State at Pegula Ica Arena in University Park, Pa., on March 5 had to be sweet.
Last month the Nittany Lions came to the Kohl Center and left town with a sweep that was capped by game misconduct penalties for UW’s Blake Montgomery and Penn State’s Gavin McKenna and seven misconduct penalties betwee the two teams. Badgers coach Mike Hastings didn’t shake hands with his counterpart, though later the coaches cleared the air.
Thursday Wisconsin, which is ranked No. 11 in the USCHO poll, gained a measure of revenge. It rallied from two one-goal deficits before putting forth a dominant third period that yielded four goals to make the hard-fought matchup look like a blowout.
The victory raised UW’s record to 20-11-2 overall and 13-10 in the Big Ten. The Badgers (36 points) are assured of a fourth-place finish and home ice for the first round of the Big Ten tournament Wednesday March 11. They will face Ohio State that day at 7 p.m.
Wisconsin would have secured home ice regardless of its outcome because about 30 minutes before the end of its game fifth-place Ohio State lost in overtime to Notre Dame. The Buckeyes needed to sweep the Fighting Irish and have UW lose twice in order to climb into fourth place.
Here are three takeaways from the victory.
Wisconsin gets points from a lot of places
Not only was the outcome reason to feel good about the Badgers’ performance, but it was one of those games when a lot of players contributed.
Seven players scored for UW. Six players had multi-point performances, led by sophomore Weston Knox (three assists) and sophomore Adam Pietila, junior Quinn Finley and freshman Vasily Zelenov, who each had one goal and one assist.
It was quite a switch from the series in Madison when the Badgers were banged up and scored just three goals in two games.
Badgers’ penalty kill come through in second period
Penn State already had a power play goal from the first period when freshman Blake Montgomery was ejected for a cross check to the neck in the 9th mnute of the second period
But during the 5-minute major penalty power play that ensued for Penn State, the Nittany Lions were hit with a penalty themselves that forced them to play 2 minutes of that major penalty 4 on 4..
Penn State managed just one shot before receiving its penalty and generated just two chances, one on goal, after completing its penalty.
The Badgers killed the penalty to preserve their 3-2 lead. Wisconsin didn’t have a penalty the rest of the night.
The Badgers best period was its last
The game was tied, 3-3, at the start of the final period, but Wisconsin was stellar on both ends of the ice during the final 20 minutes. It allowed just six shots, Penn State’s lowest for a period during the game. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s 21 shots were it best period of the night.
Senior Simon Tassy scored the game-winner at the 3-minute mark of the period. Two and a half minutes later junior Ryan Botterill put back the rebound of his own miss to push the Badgers’ lead to two.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin crushes No. 6 Penn State, gains home ice for B1G tournament
Reporting by Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
