MADISON, Wis. — Despite taking a quick two-goal lead in the first period, the Wisconsin men's hockey team could not outlast No. 8 Denver in the series finale, falling 4-3 in overtime Saturday at the Kohl Center. 

The Pioneers outshot the Badgers 40-16 in the loss. 

Freshmen linemates Dominick Mersch and Brock Caufield each put away goals to give the Badgers (8-9-3, 4-3-3-1 B1G) a lead early in the first period. 

Denver (12-4-2, 4-4-0-0 NCHC) answered with a pair of goals to knot things up in the second period, but senior forward Matthew Freytag tallied a goal on the man advantage to make it a 3-2 game. 

The Pioneers evened the score in the third period before Denver defenseman Slava Demin notched the game-winner at the 1:42 mark of overtime to earn a 4-3 victory over the Badgers. 

Junior goaltender Jack Berry made 36 saves. 

Notes to Know: 

• Mersch and Caufield's back-to-back goals in the span of 28 seconds marked the fastest consecutive goals scored by the Badgers this season. 
• Wisconsin was 7-for-8 on the penalty kill against Denver over the weekend.
• The Badgers played in front of 11,822 fans in Saturday's loss, their largest home crowd of the season.

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On tonight's result: 
"I thought we battled. If you look at the shots you'd say they dominated, but I thought we came out and had a good start to the game. They got a little bit of a bounce on their first goal to give them some energy and kind of change the momentum of the game. And then maybe we tried to defend a little too much and didn't try to stay on the attack like we had earlier in the game. So there were parts of the game where we played a little too much on our heels. But again, that's a heck of a team. Two games in a row we were in a position to beat them and unfortunately they made the plays when the games were on the line. I liked their effort, I liked how we responded, I liked their start, and I liked how Jack Berry played. This was a series that when you play a top team and don't play for four weeks you go into it a little bit in a position where you're just trying to get back into it and they came fast at us yesterday and didn't give us a chance. Tonight I thought there were parts of the game where we played really well and played with them. Just like every week I think our team has done really well as far as our growth. I think the players, the individual players, especially the young players, continue to gain experience from playing teams like this and learning from it to try and get better for the next week."

Senior Forward Matthew Freytag
On tonight's overtime loss:
"It was definitely upsetting. As a team we wanted to win that game, so everyone was a bit upset. But we'll bounce back, learn from our mistakes tonight and grow from this as a team."
 
Junior Goalie Jack Berry
On returning to the ice:
"It was good to be back and I felt really good out there. We have a tremendous defensive corps and they boxed out really well tonight, which allowed me to see the puck better. So I thought our defense made my return really easy."

Up Next: 
Wisconsin returns to the ice next Saturday against the U.S. Under-18 Team at 7 p.m (CT) at the Kohl Center. Three Wisconsin signees, including Cole Caufield, Owen Lindmark and Alex Turcotte, play for Team USA.