Wisconsin battles No. 6 Penn State to 3-3 tie
Freshman forward Brock Caufield tallies two goals in draw
MADISON, Wis. — Freshman wing Brock Caufield recorded his first career multi-goal game and rookie netminder Daniel Lebedeff made 37 saves as the Wisconsin men’s hockey team fought to a 3-3 draw against No. 6 Penn State.
The result marked the third straight game that has ended in a tie for UW.
Caufield opened the scoring for the Badgers (5-7-3, 1-3-3-1 B1G) in the first frame after tipping a shot from sophomore blue-liner Tyler Inamoto at the top of the zone past Penn State (10-3-1, 2-2-1-1 B1G) goaltender Peyton Jones to make it a 1-0 game.
Penn State forward Nikita Pavlychev then beat Lebedeff glove-side at the 12:33 mark of the first frame to even the score heading into second period.
PSU took their only lead of the night a minute into the middle frame on a goal from junior Liam Folkes, but Wisconsin gained the momentum once again after UW junior forward Max Zimmer tapped in a Seamus Malone pass past Jones nine minutes later to knot the score back up.
Four minutes later, Caufield tallied his second goal of the evening on the odd-man rush to give Wisconsin a 3-2 lead.
In the final minutes of the second period, however, Penn State forward and NCAA-leading scorer Evan Barratt scored on a breakaway to tie the game.
After a scoreless third frame and a pair of overtime periods, the two teams settled for a tie, and Penn State won the sudden-death shootout to earn the extra point in the Big Ten standings.
Lebedeff stopped 37 of the 40 shots he faced, good for a .925 save percentage.
Notes to Know:
- Brock Caufield’s multi-goal effort marks the first time a UW rookie has scored two or more goals since then-freshman Linus Weissbach tallied two goals against Michigan on Nov. 18, 2017.
- Tonight’s result marks the third-straight tie the Badgers have played to this season. The last time Wisconsin had three consecutive ties was during the 2002-03 season when the Badgers drew Minnesota State before earning ties in both games of a series against Alaska Anchorage.
- The Badgers are 13-for-13 on the penalty kill across the last three games. UW has not allowed a power-play goal since Nov. 17 when it went 5-for-7 in a 3-1 loss to Ohio State.
Straight from the Rink
Coach Tony Granato
On the game overall:
“I thought there were lots of small areas in the game where it looked like one team was better than the other team, so that probably happened six or seven times during the game where one team looked like they were taking control, something happened and then the other team took control. I think we had good moments in the game, probably most of them were in the second period. There were lots of parts in the game that were the way we have to play. Again, we’re playing a No. 6 team, so they’re extremely talented. Their lines bring a lot of speed, and I thought for the most part we did a heck of a job. We played hard. Like we say every week, we want to find ways to get better and improve, and I think there were areas of the game that we made good strides in. We were disciplined in not taking penalties, and I think offensively we did a lot of good things as well to create those chances.”
On Brock Caufield:
“Those were great plays. He’s gaining confidence. He’s only played about 11 or 12 games of college hockey, and the teams we’ve played have all been hard to play against. That’s part of the growth you look for in a player to gain confidence and learn how to contribute in different areas. He’s been one that looks like, offensively, is starting to get into a rhythm.”
Freshman wing Brock Caufield
On his assist from Tarek Baker:
“It was a four-on-four goal, great breakout play. I just found open ice and Tarek [Baker] found me and I was wide open, so that was a great pass by him.”
On performing so well in his freshman campaign:
“Every time you step on the ice you want to make an impact and you want to be the best player on the ice. We’ve got a good team with good players, and I’m accepting my role. I need to be a hard-working guy, play on the penalty kill and stuff like that.”
On the speed of the Penn State team:
“I feel like it turned into a track meet at some points of the game, and we’re a good skating team and I think we’re comfortable in that. We need to tie some things up defensively, but I think we’re comfortable playing that style of game, too.”
Freshman goaltender Daniel Lebedeff
On the outcome of the game:
“Yeah, I think the boys and I were a little disappointed by the final score tonight. Of course, we want to win, but today we just couldn’t. I think we just have to accept it and just try to focus on tomorrow being our best day.”
On having 5-on-5 for the first 35 minutes:
“I think that gave us a lot more energy on the ice, since being on the penalty kill is always tiring. I think it was much better for us to not take penalties in the 35 minutes and I think that helped us a lot, especially just getting the four lines rolling.”
Up Next: The Badgers wrap up their series with the Nittany Lions Saturday night at the Kohl Center. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. (CT).