MADISON, Wis. – Third periods have been kind to second-ranked North Dakota this season. UND received three goals from three different players in the third period, Saturday to break open a 2-1 lead, for a 5-1 victory and weekend sweep over Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.

The win, UND's third in a row, improved the team's record to 8-1-1 and pushed its unbeaten streak to eight games (8-0-1).

UND received five goals from five different players on the night to complete the sweep of Wisconsin.

“I thought we righted the ship tonight,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. “It's a hard place to win, but our players did a great job of being simple-minded in their approach and take on one challenge at a time.”

After falling behind in the previous two games, UND jumped out to the early lead thanks to a Brendan O'Donnell goal 8:39 into the game. O'Donnell fired a shot from the sideboards that beat Wisconsin goaltender Joel Rumpel short side for a 1-0 UND lead.

The Badgers found themselves in penalty trouble late in the first period when freshman defenseman Jack Dougherty received a 5-minute major for blindside interference at 19:03 of the first for a hit on Austin Poganski. UND failed to capitalize, but still carried a lead for the first time after one period since Oct. 24th vs. Providence.

North Dakota carried over 4:03 of power play time into the second period, but a strong Badger penalty kill helped the Badgers kill off the major and take control of the momentum.

Wisconsin broke through 6:16 into the second when Grant Besse snapped a shot past junior goaltender Zane McIntyre to tie things up at a goal apiece.

“I think you could make the prediction that the power play we had was either going to build momentum for us or their penalty kill was going to build momentum for them, and it was the latter,” said Hakstol. “Their penalty kill did an outstanding job to build momentum and scored a goal shortly after.”

The Badgers continued to have UND on its heels for the early part of the second period until sophomore forward Nick Schmaltz made a perfect pass to junior forward Drake Caggiula in the slot who fired it through the 5-hole of Rumpel to give UND the lead, 2-1.

However, Wisconsin continued to apply the pressure on UND late in the period. McIntyre put together a string of saves, including a sprawling toe save on Besse late in the second period to keep UND in the lead headed into the third.

“That's just hockey,” said McIntyre. “You make your own chances and both teams did that tonight. We just happened to be on the fortunate end of them tonight.”

McIntyre finished the second period with nine saves and 18 total through two periods, however, his teammates agree that none was bigger than the save on Besse late in the second.

“That's a momentum shift, for sure,” said sophomore defenseman Gage Ausmus. “It's just as good as a big hit or a goal for us. It gets the bench going and gave us the confidence we needed going into the third.”

North Dakota took that confidence and scored three goals in the third period to break the contest open.

Sophomore forward Luke Johnson fired a shot off Rumpel and a Badger defenseman to give UND a 3-1 lead at 10:23 of the third. That goal extended Johnson's point streak to five games, UND's longest of the season.

Just 44 seconds later, sophomore defenseman Troy Stecher found a loose puck and beat Rumpel short side to give UND a 4-1 lead.

UND put the final nail in Wisconsin's coffin at the 16:25 mark when Ausmus beat Rumpel to give the green and white the eventual 5-1 lead and win.

Michael Parks added two assists on the night to compliment his two goals Friday night for four weekend points. Parks now has three straight 2-point games and 11 points in his last seven games.

McIntyre finished the game with 23 saves, pushing his save percentage to .927 on the season.

UND outshot Wisconsin 33-24 for the game, with Luke Johnson leading all players with seven shots.

North Dakota will host No. 11 Miami next weekend at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Notes: Tonight's 5-1 win marked UND's most lopsided win at Wisconsin since a 5-0 win on 3/08/03, a Marc Ranfranz shutout. Zach Parise had 1-1—2 … UND is 13-0-1 when Brendan O'Donnell scores a goal … All four of Michael Parks' points this weekend came in the third period … UND has now outscored teams, 8-1 in its last three games in the third period … UND is now 5-0-0 on the road this season, its best start since the 1980 season