(UW ATHLETICS) NOTRE DAME, IND – Two-goal, three-point nights from both Quinn Finley and Joe Palodichuk helped the No. 2 Wisconsin men’s hockey team earn a 7-4 comeback victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday night at Compton Family Ice Arena.
With the win – its fourth conference victory in a row – Wisconsin sits in second place in the Big Ten with 19 points.
Notre Dame (4-10-1, 0-7-0 Big Ten – 1 point) opened the scoring early in the first period before adding another goal in the final minute of the frame to take a 2-0 lead into the second. Wisconsin (11-2-2, 7-2-0 Big Ten – 19 points) responded fast, with Quinn Finley and Christian Fitzgerald each scoring a breakaway goal in the opening four minutes of the middle frame to tie the game. The Fighting Irish retook the lead a minute later with a power-play goal, but two tallies from Joe Palodichuk in the remaining nine minutes of the second made it a 4-3 game for UW.
Less than 90 seconds into period three, ND tied the game at four. Wisconsin responded once again with a goal from Ryan Botterill just over a minute later. In the final 2:30 of the game, Finley and Simon Tassy each hit the empty net as UW won, 7-4.
How it Happened
First Period
Notre Dame opened the scoring early, 3:11 into the first period, when Evan Werner beat UW sophomore goaltender Eli Pulver with a shot from the slot.
The Fighting Irish doubled their lead with 41.2 seconds left in the opening frame with a goal on a deflection by Paul Fischer.
Wisconsin totaled seven shots on goal in the first period but was unable to convert on any scoring chances to get on the board.
Second Period
The Badgers came out with an offensive spark in the second period, scoring four goals over the 20 minutes.
Junior forward Finley scored UW’s first goal of the game, 31 seconds into the second, on a breakaway.
Senior forward Fitzgerald scored on a breakaway of his own, 3:34 into the second, to tie the game at two.
Notre Dame regained its lead, 4:54 into the second, with a power-play goal from Panayioti Fimis.
At 11:26 of the frame, junior defenseman Palodichuk scored to tie the game up at three.
In the final minutes of the second period, Wisconsin had a five-on-three power play, but failed to find the back of the net to take a lead.
With 23 seconds left, just after the power play expired, Palodichuk scored his second goal of the night, with another shot from the left faceoff dot, to make it 4-3, Wisconsin.
Third Period
The Fighting Irish tied the contest at four goals apiece, 1:23 into the third period, with Evan Werner’s second goal of the evening.
UW responded just over a minute later, with sophomore forward Botterill making it a 5-4 game, 2:26 into the third.
Finley scored his second goal of the night, 17:33 into the third, firing the puck into the empty net to give the Badgers a two-goal cushion.
To cap off a high-scoring night for UW, senior forward Tassy added another empty-net goal at 19:31, sealing a 7-4 victory.
Wisconsin went 0-for-2 on the power play and 0-for-1 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 37-31 advantage in shots on goal.
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