The Wisconsin men’s hockey team (6-5-0, 6-3-0-0-1-0 Big Ten) scored first and knocked off top-ranked Minnesota (10-1-0, 8-1-0-0-0-0 Big Ten), 3-1, on Saturday at LaBahn Arena, handing the Gophers their first loss of the season.
Linus Weissbach put the Badgers on the board midway through the second period at 10:44 on assists from Tarek Baker and Cole Caufield to make it 1-0 Wisconsin.
Baker put the Badgers up 2-0 just 1:59 into the third period, scoring his second goal of the season on a feed from Sam Stange and Ty Emberson.
The Gophers finally answered at 7:50 of the third period with a power-play goal from Sampo Ranta to make it 2-1 Wisconsin.
The Badgers closed out the scoring with a short-handed empty-net goal at 19:06 in the third period from Owen Lindmark to make it 3-1.
Badger goaltender Robbie Beydoun made 35 saves in goal to get the win for the Badgers. Wisconsin has now won three straight games against Minnesota when the Gophers were No. 1, winning a pair of games on Feb. 6-7, 2014 at the Kohl Center.
The two teams close out the 2-game series on Sunday afternoon (4 p.m. CT / Fox Sports Wisconsin) at LaBahn Arena.