MADISON, Wis. — The No. 20 Wisconsin men's hockey team returns to home ice and a weekend series against No. 16 Minnesota to open the Big Ten regular season. 

Wisconsin meets conference-rival Minnesota for a highly anticipated border-battle showdown this Friday and Saturday at the Kohl Center. Both contests are set for 7 p.m. CT (Tickets).

Here are six things to know ahead of the Badgers' series against the Golden Gophers.
 

Game 9 | Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
Date	Friday, Nov. 9 | 7 p.m. (CT)
Location	Madison, Wis. |  Kohl Center (15,359)
Watch	Fox Sports Wisconsin | BTN2Go
Listen	1310 WIBA |  Badger Sports Network | Listen Live
Follow	Live Stats | @BadgerMHockey
Game Notes	Wisconsin (PDF)
Tickets	UWBadgers.com

 

Game 10 | Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
Date	Saturday, Nov. 10 | 7 p.m. (CT)
Location	Madison, Wis. |  Kohl Center (15,359)
Watch	Fox Sports Wisconsin | BTN2Go
Listen	1310 WIBA |  Badger Sports Network | Listen Live
Follow	Live Stats | @BadgerMHockey
Game Notes	Wisconsin (PDF)
Tickets	UWBadgers.com

SPECIAL TEAMS: Special teams have been crucial components of the Badgers' season thus far. Last weekend, Wisconsin killed 11-of-12 penalties to raise its penalty kill to 72.5 percent (29-for-40). UW was at 64.3 percent before the North Dakota series. The Badgers had just two power plays in the game on Saturday for a seven power play differential. That is the largest differential for the Badgers since March of 2013.

The Badgers have two games in which they have three power-play goals, both victories (Oct. 20 at St. Lawrence and Oct. 27 against Michigan Tech). Prior to this season, UW's power play hadn't connected three times in a game since going 3-for-7 at Denver on Nov. 26, 2016. The Badgers rank 22nd in the nation with a 22.9 percent power play (8-for-35).

UNDERCLASSMEN IMPACT: Wisconsin's underclassmen have been integral in the Badgers' lineup this season, earning valuable minutes on the ice and accounting for 70 percent of point-scoring. UW's sophomore and freshman classes currently rank fourth and fifth in the nation among their peers in scoring.

The play of rookie defenseman K'Andre Miller and freshman goaltender Daniel Lebedeff has proven to be especially valuable for the young Badgers squad. Miller's eight points currently pace UW freshmen while ranking second among Badger blue-liners. Last week, Miller was named the HCA National Rookie of the Month for his performance in the month of October. Tied for third in points among all freshmen in the nation (2 G, 7 P), Miller also registered two more points than any other freshman defenseman during the month.

Lebedeff was sensational in the net for the Badgers last Saturday in Grand Forks. Despite a 3-2 overtime lost to the Fighting Hawks, Lebedeff registered a 32-save performance and helped kill eight of nine penalties throughout the game. Through four appearances in goal, the Helsinki, Finland native has a 2-1-0 record and a .922 save percentage, and is expected to make consecutive starts against the Gophers this weekend.

HOME SCORING: In four games this season at the Kohl Center, the Badgers have tallied 18 goals for a 4.50 goals-per-game average. The Badgers have two games with six goals or more over the first four games, helping Wisconsin to a 3-1-0 home record. Sophomores Wyatt Kalynuk, Tarek Baker and Linus Weissbach lead the pack in home tallies with six points each. 

NEW OVERTIME PROCEDURE: The Big Ten has adopted new overtime procedures for conference games for the 2018–19 campaign. If a game is tied after regulation and the the normal five-minute, 5-on-5 overtime, the official result goes down as a tie and both teams will earn one point in the league standings.

However for conference purposes, teams will skate 3-on-3 for five minutes, and then if still tied, a sudden death shootout. The winner of either the 3-on-3 overtime or shootout will then earn an extra point in the standings.

BIG TEN PLAY: Starting the sixth season of Big Ten hockey, the Badgers were picked to finish sixth by the coaches in the preseason poll. In the five previous seasons, Wisconsin has only finished in either second or sixth place. UW was second in the inaugural season of 2013–14 and went on to win the Big Ten tournament with a come from-behind, 5-4 overtime victory over Ohio State. UW also placed second during the 2016–17 campaign, then fell in double overtime in the Big Ten championship game, 2-1, to Penn State.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GOPHERS: The Badgers and the Gophers meet for the 287th and 288th time in UW's most-played series. Picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten, the Gophers have started off slow, skating to a 1-3-1 record through five games, though their schedule has been extremely challenging. The Gophers returned leading scorer in junior forward Rem Pitlick, but lost their second-leading scorer, Casey Mittelstadt, to the NHL this past summer. Junior goaltender Mat Robson, who saw action in 14 games for the Gophers last season, has backstopped the Gophers in four of their first five games. Minnesota is coming off a two-loss weekend against in-state rival Minnesota State heading into this weekend's Border Battle showdown.

The last time UW and Minnesota met, the Gophers swept the Badgers at the Kohl Center in February. Then-junior Matthew Freytag and Matt Ustaski scored Wisconsin's only goals of the weekend. The Badgers trail the Gophers 94-169-23 in the all-time series.