ANN ARBOR, Mich. —It wasn't the third period the Wisconsin men's hockey team had drawn up, but after surrendering the lead, the Badgers scored in the last five minutes of regulation to earn a 6-6 tie with No. 12 Michigan at Yost Ice Arena.
 
After losing a three-goal advantage on Friday night, the Badgers (3-6-5, 0-1-1-0 Big Ten) entered the third period with a 5-3 edge on Saturday. Michigan (8-2-3, 1-0-1-1) scored three straight to take the lead, but UW's Matthew Freytag netted his second goal of the game with 4:29 left in regulation to knot the score for good.
 
Despite allowing Michigan back into the game, Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves liked the way his team battled back from the deficit.
 
"As much as we haven't solved the riddle of figuring how to put games away, one of things we've done all year very well is being resilient and coming back and finding ways to tie games," Eaves said.
 
The late third-period goal helped Wisconsin overcome its second deficit of the game, after it had climbed out of an early two-goal hole in the first period. The Wolverines scored just 1:29 into the first period and then added a second goal at the 4:38 mark of the first frame on Justin Selman's shorthanded tally.
 
But Ryan Wagner and the Badgers answered right back. Wagner, who had two goals in an 110-second span earlier this season, scored twice on the power play in a 4:08 span to tie the game right back up. Wagner jammed home a loose puck from the low slot 5:39 into the first period to cut the Michigan lead to one. Then at the 9:47 mark of the period Wagner redirected Cameron Hughes' shot past Wolverines goaltender Zach Nagelvoort to tie the score.
 
Michigan scored with less than five minutes left in the first period to take the lead into the first intermission, but Wisconsin came out with guns blazing in the second period just as it had on Friday night. UW scored three times in the second, with goals from Tim Davison, Kevin Schulze and Freytag, to give it a 5-3 lead.
 
Davison started the scoring in the second period on an extra-attacker goal, with Jurusik pulled on a delayed penalty situation. Davison got a cross-ice feed from Grant Besse, toe-dragged around a Michigan played and sniped Nagelvoort to tie the game at three.
 
Kevin Schulze followed with his first goal of the season just 2:04 later at the 10:13 mark of the second, getting credit for a goal that bounced off a Michigan player's stick in front of Nagelvoort before it sailed over him into the back of the net.
 
Freytag found the back of the net with 1:37 left in the middle stanza to make it a 5-3 lead.
 
Facing one of the top scoring teams in the country in Michigan, Eaves saw UW stick right with the Wolverines all weekend.
 
"We feel that we have more speed and more talent, and we were able to put the puck in the twine this weekend, and that will bode well for us," Eaves said. "Offense is an interesting thing. It comes and goes, but we'd like to ride this wave that we're on right now."
 
Michigan answered Wisconsin's second period with a three-goal period of its own in the third. Tyler Motte, JT Compher and Michael Downing scored almost evenly spaced in the third, with Downing's goal giving the Wolverines a brief lead at 10:45 of the period.
 
For the third time this year though, Wisconsin scored in the last five minutes of regulation to tie a game and force overtime, ending a six-game losing streak against the Wolverines.

"We just need to understand what we're going through," Eaves said. "Yeah, it hurts, and it should hurt because of the fact that we did a lot of really good things. But this is just part of our journey, part of our growth. And we're going to get there."
 
Following a scoreless overtime session, Michigan won the ensuing shootout 2-0 to earn the extra point in the Big Ten standings.
 
Wisconsin finishes off the first half of its season with a trip to Michigan State next weekend. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on Friday night and 1:30 p.m. CT on Saturday afternoon.