Christian Fitzgerald’s hat trick lifts Badgers past Gophers 5-2 in Big Ten hockey opener

Christian Fitzgerald had a hat trick to power Wisconsin past the visiting Gophers 5-2 on Thursday night as the men’s hockey teams opened play in the Big Ten Conference.

Fitzgerald, a senior who transferred to the Badgers in 2023 from Minnesota State, scored power-play goals in the second and third periods before adding an empty-netter before an announced crowd of 7,007 at the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin is 5-0-2 and the Gophers are 2-6-1; last season, the Gophers swept all four games between the teams.

“We couldn’t break pucks out and turned it over. We made life pretty easy for them tonight,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters in Madison. “Unfortunately, this is something we’ve seen now a little bit in the early part of the season that we have to find a way to rectify.”

After the teams skated through a scoreless first period, Fitzgerald opened the scoring with 14:34 remaining in the second period. The Gophers tied it less than a minute later on a goal by Mason Moe.

Blake Montgomery and Logan Hensler scored 43 seconds apart to give the Badgers a 3-1 lead with 8:04 left in the second period.

Hensler, a defenseman from Woodbury, was the 23rd overall pick in this year’s NHL draft, taken by Ottawa.

Fitzgerald, who had scored four goals in the Badgers’ first six games this season, gave the Badgers a 4-2 lead with 17:41 remaining. He sealed the victory with 75 seconds remaining.

Ben Dexheimer, a senior from Edina, and Kyle Kukkonen, a senior from Maple Grove, each had two assists for the Badgers, who outshot the Gophers, 43-16, including 33-12 over the final two periods.

The Gophers went into the series with an 11-3-1 record in their past 15 meetings with the Badgers, including a 5-2-1 in their last four trips to Madison.