Five special teams goals powered Minnesota’s men’s hockey team to an 8-4 rout of No. 8 Wisconsin Saturday night, completing a series sweep at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

“You’ve got to throw your first shoutout to our fans. Sold out crowd, enthusiastic, and then our guys didn’t let them down,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “I know it’s one weekend, (and) we have felt that we don’t get ahead of ourselves, but our guys have just stuck to a great script on working and staying positive.”

Ten different players recorded a point for Minnesota, and Brodie Ziemer and Erik Påhlsson each finished with two goals and an assist for the Gophers, who improved to 10-16-1 overall, 6-10-0 the Big Ten.

Beckett Hendrickson, Brody Lamb, Luke Mittelstadt and Leo Gruba also scored goals, and LJ Mooney finished with three assists for Minnesota, which moved within two points of the Badgers (15-9-2, 8-8-0) in the Big Ten standings.

It was Minnesota’s fifth victory over a Top 10 opponent this season. Next up is a home series against Ohio State on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (8 p.m.).

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