No. 1 goes down: Wisconsin men's hockey upsets top-ranked Minnesota in Big Ten opener

The Wisconsin men’s hockey team continues to show its resolve.

For the fourth time this season the Badgers came from behind to win, this time bouncing back to defeat No. 1 Minnesota, 5-2, in the Big Ten opener Thursday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.

Senior Mathieu De St. Phalle and sophomore Cruz Lucius scored two goals each for the Badgers, who raised their record to 6-1 and defeated a No. 1 team for the first time since knocking off Minnesota on Feb. 11. This is the program's best start since 2000-01, when it started 7-0.

The victory came after the Gophers (3-2, 0-1) got on the board first 15 seconds into the game.

The win was a quality performance for the Badgers, who outshot Minnesota, 34-24, and didn’t commit a penalty until the final 10 minutes and had nine players involved in their scoring.

De St. Phalle, who finished the night with three points, tied the game 1-1 on a power play score at the 1:38 mark off passes from sophomore Ben Dexheimer (three assists) and senior David Silye. About 9½ minutes later, De St. Phalle, along with freshman Joe Palodichuk, got the assist on a Lucius goal that gave UW a 2-1 edge.

Minnesota’s Charlie Strobel tied the game at the 9:59 mark of the second period, but the momentum generated by the score wouldn’t last.

UW closed the period with two goals in the final 4 minutes. Senior Carson Bantle recorded his second straight game-winner at the 16:30 mark and De St. Phalle found the back of the goal 62 seconds later to give the Badgers a 4-2 edge heading into the final 20 minutes.

Lucius gave the Badgers their final margin of victory with about 5 minutes to play.

Wisconsin will try to complete a sweep of the Gophers at 8 p.m. Friday night.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin men's hockey upsets No. 1 Minnesota for another comeback win