Goalie shines as Badgers men take over Big Ten lead

Kyle McClellan continued to work his magic Friday night.

The senior goaltender for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team leads the nation in save percentage and in the first Big Ten game of the new year, he was every bit as good as his stats indicate.

He finished with 27 saves in the Badgers’ 2-1 victory over Notre Dame in front of 5,069 at Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Indiana, helping close out the win by turning away a twoon-one opportunity by the Fighting Irish during the final 31⁄2 minutes.

The victory carried major ramifications.

It moved UW (17-4, 9-2- 27 points) past idle Michigan State and into first place in the Big Ten. Notre Dame dropped to 10-9-2 overall and 4-5-2 (15 points) in conference play.

The victory also extended Wisconsin’s winning streak to eight games. That is the program’s longest winning streak since 2000.

The Badgers also improved to 3-1 in games when the score was tied after two periods.

Charlie Stramel’s power play goal at the 8-minute 2-second mark of the final period was the game-winner. The sophomore forward’s shot was set up in the middle of the zone by passes from sophomore Tyson Dyck and senior Owen Lindmark, who scored the game’s first goal at the 12:40 mark of the second period

UW’s defense, specifically its penalty kill, took care of business down the stretch, killing a 5-minute major penalty during the final 10 minutes.

With the effort, Wisconsin’s goals against average dropped to 1.52. Meanwhile, McClellan raised his save percentage to .941.

DAVE KALLMANN / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Wisconsin’s Kyle McClellan, who had 27 saves Friday, leads the nation in save percentage. He’s shown against Northeastern on Dec. 29.