MADISON, Wis. – Five different Badgers lit the lamp as the top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team defeated No. 11 St. Cloud State, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd at LaBahn Arena. 

Tied for the lead in goals nationwide, Laila Edwards notched her 25th goal of the season and sixth game-winning goal of the season. Laney Potter recorded two points for the Badgers (25-1-1, 19-1-1) with a goal and an assist, as did Cassie Hall and Lacey Eden. Casey O'Brien also lit the lamp in the triumph. 

Wisconsin broke the ice early as blueliner Potter notched her third goal of the season. From the corner, Hall sent a pass into the slot where Potter was open enough to one-time into the Huskies net. St. Cloud State (12-9-4, 7-9-3-1-0-1 WCHA) equalized about two minutes later.

Co-captain O'Brien helped UW retake the lead 26 seconds after SCSU's equalizer. From deep in the Badgers zone, Potter sent a stretch pass over to Kirsten Simms, who passed the puck to O'Brien who broke free and beat St. Cloud netminder Sanni Ahola. Wisconsin took its 2-1 lead in the second period.

Two St. Cloud State skaters picked up penalties three minutes into the second period, sending Wisconsin to a 5-on-3 power play and the Badgers capitalized. Simms passed across the slot to a wide-open Edwards in the left face-off circle who nailed the tight-angle shot past Ahola. 

Just after the second penalty expired, Hall extended the Badgers lead to 4-1. Blueliner Vivian Jungels took a shot that Ahola saved but couldn't handle and Hall tapped the trickling rebound into St. Cloud State's net. Wisconsin took their 4-1 lead into the final frame leading shots on goal 33-9. 

With seven minutes to play, Wisconsin headed to the penalty kill. St. Cloud State pulled their netminder to go 6-on-4, but Eden punished them, sending a cross-ice shot into the open net for the shorthanded tally.

St. Cloud scored on the power play with just under 20 seconds remaining to close out a 5-2 Badger victory.

McNaughton stopped 14 of 16 shots for her 24th win of the season.

Notes of the Game

• Wisconsin improved to 12-0-0 at home at LaBahn Arena and has outscored opponents 154 to 29 this season.
• This is the 19th game this season UW has scored 5 or more goals in a game.
• Wisconsin has recorded a power-play goal in five straight games and has 11 power-play goals in its last 10 games.
• The Badgers held their first-ever Teddy Toss presented by BMO after the game. UW collected 705 stuffed animals that will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House of Madison. 

Straight from the Rink 
UW Head Coach Mark Johnson
On strategy for today:
"I thought both teams played at a real high pace and they can be stingy and depending on where the puck is. As we've all talked about, you have to manage it in those areas and between the blues and reds and reds and blues and the neutral zone. Can you generate enough speed to get through those? If you're not doing that, then you're probably not getting in the offensive zone. If I'm able to get through that, can I get the puck into the offensive zone with some speed?"

On the difference maker: 
"The second period had a lot of opportunities, but the momentum shift really tilted it for us after those two power-play situations where we got some life out of it. We got some more energy and maintained that through most of the period."

Sophomore defender Laney Potter
On her strong showing:
"I just saw open ice, honestly. I feel like Coach (Johnson) has been really adamant about shooting the puck, so there wasn't really anybody in front, so I got close enough, and I shot it."

Senior alternate captain Lacey Eden
On the strong start:
 "I think we had a really strong start; I mean, scoring on our second shift definitely helps. Even when they scored, we kind of got the momentum back right away. If you have a strong start, it can kind of demoralize other teams pretty quickly and we just kind of kept the foot on the gas pedal, we had a lot of shots today and that's always the key to success.

Up Next: The Badgers wrap up their series with the Huskies at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The game is sold out but fans can purchase tickets through SeatGeek. Fans can watch on Big Ten Plus or listen on 1070 The Game.