MINNEAPOLIS — Senior captain Peter Tischke scored the game-winning goal at 4:02 of the third period of Saturday night's Border Battle finale against Minnesota to lift the Wisconsin men's hockey team, 4-3, over the Golden Gophers at 3M Arena in Mariucci.

The Badgers (9-11-4, 5-5-4-1 B1G) trailed the Gophers (10-11-4, 7-6-3-0 B1G) by one-goal after the first period, but a tense middle frame of seesaw scoring left each team with three goals apiece, with all three Minnesota goals coming on the power play.

In the opening moments of the final frame, Tischke broke the tie after firing a shot high past Minnesota goaltender Mat Robson to make it a 4-3 game. The goal marked Tischke's third game-winning tally of his career.

The Gophers outshot the Badgers 12-4 in the third period, but Wisconsin's defense stayed strong, including on two penalty kills, and freshman netminder Daniel Lebedeff was sensational in the net, stopping all 12 of Minnesota's shots in the third frame.

Lebedeff made a total of 29 saves in goal for the Red and White.

Notes to Know:

• Saturday's victory marked the end of a five-game winless streak for the Badgers. Before tonight's game, UW hadn't earned a win since Dec. 8 against Michigan State.
• Sophomore forward Linus Weissbach scored his first goal since Oct. 27 in tonight's win. Weissbach missed 10 games due to injury before returning for the Michigan State series in December.
• Freshman forward Mick Messner scored his second goal of the weekend in the victory. Messner now owns five goals and seven points so far this season.

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On Saturday's response:
"With a young team, you hope the response is the right one. Fortunately, our leaders and our players were able to put last night behind us, especially the last five minutes. The most impressive thing is you give up three power-play goals last night, and it doesn't prevent us from staying with it. I thought our composure was a big factor in winning the game tonight."

On Peter Tischke's performance:
"He's a leader so he made sure he was going to leave everything on the ice. I thought this was probably his best game that I've seen him play. He was just outstanding. On both ends of the rink... he jumped into the play, he was smart with the puck. He rallied the troops and made sure we were able to win."

On Daniel Lebedeff's performance:
"He was competitive. He was challenging. He was confident. It was a great response by him, because he was one that got rattled at the end of last night's game. So for a 19-year-old goalie to be able to come back 24 hours later against a team like that and play rock solid, that's really good."

Senior Defenseman Peter Tischke
On the penalty kill:
It was huge. Our PK leading up to that wasn't doing so hot. When you let in three power-play goals on the road, you usually don't come out winning those games. That PK was huge. The forwards did a good job, the defense did a great job blocking shots and boxing out. Lebedeff was great. It's really good when your goaltender is your best penalty-killer. "

On Saturday's response:
"I wasn't concerned about the response. Everyone was frustrated after last night after the effort we put in and the results we got. I think that everyone was really fired up and ready to get after it. I think everyone responded really well and everyone played their role, and we came out successful."

Up Next: The Badgers travel to East Lansing, Michigan, next weekend to take on the Spartans in conference play. Friday's game is slated for a 6 p.m. (CT) start, and Saturday's contest will begin at 4:30 (CT).