Trailing by two goals midway through the second period Friday night, Minnesota needed just one goal to get something started, coach Don Lucia said later.
The Gophers got that and plenty more in a short amount of time.
Minnesota scored four times in a 100-second span to turn a two-goal deficit into a two-goal lead en route to a 7-5 victory over Wisconsin.
Vinni Lettieri, Jake Bischoff, Seth Ambroz and Leon Bristedt carried out the pillaging of the Badgers defensive zone, with one goal coming off a turnover and the other three on rebounds.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to gut out a win,” said Lucia, whose team won for just the second time in its last seven games. “It doesn’t have to be the prettiest win.”
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Ambroz scored twice for his first multiple-goal game since Nov. 30, 2013, also against Wisconsin. Nine of his 33 collegiate goals and three of his five multiple-goal games have come against the Badgers.
“It just seems to be bouncing my way against them in my career,” Ambroz said.
The Gophers took control thanks to a second-period flurry against a faltering Badgers defensive-zone effort.
Lettieri cut Wisconsin’s lead to 3-2 after he stole the puck from defenseman Jack Dougherty close to the net.
Just 61 seconds later, Wisconsin’s Matt Ustaski failed to pick up Bischoff, who buried a rebound after Joel Rumpel stopped Sam Warning.
It took another 26 seconds for the Gophers to take the lead when Badgers center Adam Rockwood got caught along the boards, leaving Ambroz alone in front for a rebound of a Brady Skjei shot.
And 13 seconds after that, Bristedt deposited another rebound, the fourth Gophers goal in 1:40.
“Guys were kind of down there and we were just looking for that one to spark us,” Ambroz said. “And obviously we were able to put three in right after that. That’s a huge spark for us.”
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It was another defensive collapse for the Badgers, who let a 4-1 lead evaporate in a 7-4 loss to Michigan last Friday.
“It was like somebody turned the light off for 1:40 and we had no clue what our brain was doing,” Badgers coach Mike Eaves said.
Wisconsin has allowed 20 goals in its last three games, and 44 in nine games in January. The Badgers fell to 84-6 under Eaves when scoring five goals or more.
They lost for the 16th time in 21 games this season despite scoring in the final minute of both the first and second periods.
Ustaski put the Badgers ahead 2-1 with 7.1 seconds left in the first period, less than a minute after Ambroz’s first goal canceled out a Joseph LaBate score.
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After the Gophers’ scoring barrage, Dougherty brought Wisconsin (2-16-3, 0-6-1-1 Big Ten) within 5-4 with 51.6 seconds left in the second.
Minnesota (12-9-2, 2-2-2-0) answered in the third, with Taylor Cammarata and Hudson Fasching scoring 36 seconds apart.
Lucia said that his team’s play in the defensive zone also was “sporadic,” but under the circumstances, things worked out.
Minnesota fell out of the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll this week for the first time since 2011 and has played itself out of position for an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament.
“We needed a win,” Lucia said. “I don’t care how, but we needed a win.”
