3 things that stood out in Wisconsin's overtime victory against Long Island

The University of Wisconsin men's hockey team reached the point of its schedule where it needed to take care of business.

Nonconference series against Long Island this weekend and Lindenwood the next stood out as an opportunity for the Badgers to escape a troublesome 2-8 start to the season and get themselves feeling better.

Long Island showed Friday it wasn't going to roll over for that development. It took things to a new level Saturday, forcing the Badgers to overtime and leading for a long stretch.

But Zach Urdahl followed his first goal of the season in the series opener with the winner Saturday for a 4-3 victory in a game the Badgers never led until the winner.

Urdahl fired a wrist shot from the high slot that hit the net after the Badgers had a handful of chances earlier in the extra session.

"It was huge to come back a couple times," Urdahl said. "It's been something that we've struggled with, keeping our composure and keeping ourself engaged in the game once we get down. To know that we come back in a game is huge for us."

UW (4-8) broke a 17-game losing streak dating to last season when it trailed after two periods. Its last victory when behind at the second intermission before Saturday was Jan. 15 against Michigan State.

"Lots of people expect that when you play a team like Long Island you should win by whatever," Badgers coach Tony Granato said. "You just want to win and you want to do things right and play the right way."

Here are three things that stood out and the three stars.

Errors lead to two-goal deficit

The Badgers fell behind 2-0 in the first period because of two mistakes on which the Sharks pounced. Carson Bantle might have been overaggressive on a forecheck and Charlie Stramel didn't get back to prevent a 3-on-2 rush that Josh Zary finished.

Cruz Lucius was unaware Long Island's Anthony Vincent was in his rearview mirror in front of the UW bench to knock away the puck. That led to an Adam Goodsir breakaway for a two-goal advantage.

UW rallied with second-period goals by Sam Stange and Jack Horbach to equalize, but Long Island went ahead before the intermission when Austin Brimmer appeared to go unnoticed by defensemen Mike Vorlicky and Luke LaMaster at the front of the net. Brimmer redirected Dylan Schuett's shot just after the end of a power play.

Impressive efforts tie it

Horbach pushed the puck past Long Island's Noah Kane at the left point and was off to the races on a short-handed breakaway. He finished it on the backhand for a 2-2 tie in the second period.

It was the Badgers' second short-handed goal of the season. Owen Lindmark had the other at Ohio State on Oct. 8.

Stramel tied it at 3-3 in the third, but that was thanks to passes from Jack Gorniak and Daniel Laatsch. The latter had the zone entry and dropped the puck to Gorniak, who moved it immediately to the right to give Stramel a shot with goalie Vinnie Purpura moving.

"We've got some great players on this team, using our skill, playing a simple, hard game and playing the way we're taught to play: sticking to the systems," Stramel said. "It obviously worked out well this weekend, getting the sweep."

Blocked

UW's first power play was a key point in the opening period after the Sharks opened a 2-0 lead. Brimmer was called for holding and the Badgers needed to get some momentum from the advantage.

Long Island instead blocked six of UW's eight shot attempts over the two minutes. Spencer Cox got in the way of two in a row from Liam Malmquist.

"Credit to them, but I don't think we were very sharp," Granato said.

The Sharks (1-8-1) blocked two more on another Badgers power play in the second period in which the first 1:52 was in the offensive zone. Malmquist hit the crossbar during that opportunity.

Three stars

No. 3: Purpura came in cold after Sharks starting goalie Brandon Perrone was injured in the second period and made 24 saves.

No. 2: Stramel's tying goal in the third period set up overtime.

No. 1: Urdahl saved the Badgers from being the first Big Ten team to tie or lose to Long Island.

First period: LI — Zary 2 (Brodziak, Di Cicco), 7:14; Goodsir 4 (Vincent), 12:01. Penalties: Brown, W, 8:25; Brimmer, LI, 13:51.

Second period: W — Stange 1 (Mersch, Urdahl), 5:32; Horbach 2, 14:54 (sh). LI — Brimmer 1 (Schuett, Muller), 16:31. Penalties: Stramel, W, 2:31; Di Cicco, LI, 2:41; Rook, LI, 8:33; Jugnauth, W, 14:27.

Third period: W — Stramel 2 (Gorniak, Laatsch), 2:30. Penalty: Team, W, 9:23.

Overtime: W — Urdahl 2 (Dexheimer), 3:47.

Saves: LI (Perrone 11-9-x, Purpura x-6-13-5) 44; W (Moe 5-3-6-2) 16. Power plays: LI 0-for-4; W 0-for-3. Att. — 7,650.