Wisconsin hockey tops Penn State 4-1

The 12th-ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team has won three games in a row.

That’s after the Badgers took out Penn State 4-1 Thursday night on the road.

Wisconsin jumped on the Nittany Lions in the first period with a pair of goals. Senior Ty Pelton-Byce got things going with a power-play goal at the 13:07 mark. It was his third goal of the season. That was followed up by freshman Mathieu De St. Phalle scoring the first goal of his career at 16:58 mark.

The Badgers 2-0 lead was cut in half early in the second by Penn State’s Kevin Wall, who scored his seventh goal of the season.

The score stayed 2-1 all the way until the 14:11 mark of the third period. That’s when Wisconsin took advantage of a power-play opportunity as sophomore Cole Caufield slotted one home for his ninth goal of the year. Junior Dominick Mersch capped the scoring with an empty net goal just minutes later.

Wisconsin got another another huge effort from Cameron Rowe in goal. Making his third-straight start, Rowe faced 46 shots and saved 45 of them. The Badgers improved to 4-1 in games he has started this year.

Coach Tony Granato’s club is now 9-6 on the season and 7-4 in Big Ten play.

The two teams will meet again Friday night in University Park.