MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's hockey team fought back from a third-period deficit for the second straight night, but Michigan State scored late in regulation to slip past the Badgers 3-1 on Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
 
"It's a similar story," head coach Mike Eaves said. "We've talked at times during this year about being close, getting over the hump, flirting with the girl, asking her to dance. We didn't get the timely goal tonight."
 
After seven combined goals in the series opener on Friday night, the two teams had just one total goal to show for the first two periods on Saturday night, as MSU (9-20-3, 5-10-1-0 Big Ten) carried a 1-0 lead to the second intermission.
 
Wisconsin (6-15-7, 1-10-3-1 Big Ten) turned up the pressure in the final period, outshooting the Spartans by seven in the frame, and eventually tying the game at the 7:06 mark of the stanza.
 
Jedd Soleway started that scoring sequence for UW, firing a shot from the left wing that MSU goaltender Jake Hildebrand had trouble handling. After Hildebrand pushed Adam Rockwood's follow-up try behind the net, Soleway got back to the puck and sent it to Seamus Malone in the slot. Malone then rifled the pass top shelf past Hildebrand.
 
"The fact was, they were sitting back, they had four guys many times across their blue line. What we needed to do was get it deep, go after it, get possession and get the puck to the paint and get bodies there and in fact, that's what we were doing," Eaves said. "We did, in the third period, to a higher degree and that's what helped manufacture the goal by Seamus, the tying goal."
 
With the primary assist, Soleway halted a 12-game stretch without a point, dating back to Nov. 21. Malone picked up his first goal since Dec. 12 which also came against the Spartans.
 
The Badgers then got an extended five-on-three opportunity with five minutes left in the third, providing a quality chance to take the lead. But UW couldn't capitalize on 1:03 of the five-on-three power play, and then came up empty on the ensuing 57 seconds of a one-man advantage.
 
"You get a five-on-three in a tie game with five minutes left in the third, you think things are going to go your way," assistant captain Grant Besse said. "But then when you don't score, I would say the momentum shifted in their favor a little bit."
 
Michigan State translated the momentum from the penalty kill and scored the game-winning goal a little more than a minute later.
 
After UW turned the puck over in the neutral zone, MSU's Thomas Ebbing found Mackenzie MacEachern in the left circle, and MacEachern one-timed the feed past UW goaltender Matt Jurusik to give the Spartans the lead for good.
 
MacEachern then potted an empty netter with 23 seconds left to seal the win for Michigan State.
 
"We said to the guys, 'we have to keep moving ahead.' I know they're banged up, they're tired, they're angry, they're ticked off, all those things," Eaves said. "But this is all part of what I've said before all year. This is part of the process of forging ourselves."
 
Wisconsin will head on the road for the first time since mid-January when it travels to Ohio State next weekend for a Friday-Saturday series. Faceoff is set for 5:30 p.m. on Friday night and 6 p.m. on Saturday night in Columbus, with Friday's contest airing on BTN.