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When junior defenseman Steven Holtz buried the overtime winner Friday night against Wisconsin, he and his teammates swarmed onto the ice in exhilarated celebration. His breakthrough was a final moment of catharsis in an otherwise frustrating game for the No. 4 Michigan hockey team.

Because for the better part of the 70-minute affair, the Wolverines (21-11-3 overall, 13-10-2 Big Ten) played down to the Badgers (13-22, 6-19) in a sloppy 6-5 overtime opener to the Big Ten Tournament. As Wisconsin played to keep its season going, Michigan came out flat-footed before a surge in overtime helped them overcome a bevy of mistakes.

“This game probably summed up our whole season,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “… When we do it the right way and we’re hard and we create chaos, we’re really good. And when we let them off the hook or swing off guys, we’re just OK.”

For the majority of the first two periods, the Badgers created that chaos and capitalized on the ensuing opportunities. Battling back to take the lead after two separate advantages for the Wolverines, Wisconsin won loose pucks and played with the hunger of a team whose season stood in jeopardy.

Those loose pucks made a difference, as they allowed the Badgers to generate numerous shots. As Michigan played on its back foot, the Badgers created a 24-14 shot advantage through the first two periods, many of which came on frenetic rebounds that pulled the Wolverines out of their structure.

Against the chaos it usually controls, Michigan started to wither. Undisciplined penalties like a head-contact game misconduct to sophomore forward Dylan Duke further allowed the Badgers to dictate play. While two goals from freshman forward Adam Fantilli provided ballast and a 4-3 lead into the second intermission, the Wolverines could never quite pull away from the Big Ten’s worst team.

Wisconsin ran with those opportunities to begin the third period, as forwards Mathieu De St. Phalle and Dominick Mersch scored goals 19 seconds apart to take a 5-4 lead. Michigan stared down a shocking deficit to the bottomfeeder Badgers, harkening back to its embarrassing loss to them back in December. 

But that was December, and this is the postseason. Under that strenuous style of play, the Wolverines looked wholly unprepared.

“It’s a bit of a wake up call, right,” Holtz said. “Especially in the NCAA Tournament, you play like that (and) your season’s over. Thankfully, it’s a best of three series but like I said, I think we just gotta hit the reset button here and come tomorrow with the ‘F you’ mentality and play pissed off.”

As the game went down to the wire, Michigan answered the call. With 1:15 left, Fantilli seemed to tie it with a hat trick goal, but the smattering of celebratory lids on the ice fell for naught. The officials called a too many men penalty that wiped the goal off the board.

For 42 seconds after that goal was waved off, it looked like lowly Wisconsin would march out of Yost Ice Arena with a 1-0 series lead.

Then sophomore forward Mackie Samoskevich forced overtime with a one-timer that bounced off two Badgers’ skates. Entering its fifth overtime in the last six games, Michigan had a chance to correct its mistakes. 

To do so, it played the kind of chaotic hockey it thrives on. As all four lines sent hard shots on net and dug for the resulting rebounds, they thoroughly overwhelmed Wisconsin like they should’ve from the start. Outshooting the Badgers 7-4 in the extra frame, the Wolverines stacked quality shifts that built up toward Holtz’s heroic goal.

When that game-winner went in the net, it showed the best of Michigan’s play. Following nearly 30 seconds of offensive zone pressure and two previous shot attempts that pulled Wisconsin out of its structure, Holtz cashed in with a quick point shot.

But that overtime scare highlights further problems for Michigan. Entering the win-or-go-home postseason, it can sorely afford the kind of dud it played for the majority of the game. As much as Wisconsin hung around, a better team could’ve used the Wolverines’ mistakes to bury them.

Even after the win, Michigan has to play the Badgers tomorrow to clinch a berth in the Big Ten semifinals. After a positive performance in overtime, it will look to avoid the mistakes that plagued it early on.

“They’re playing for their season,” Samoskevich said. “So we know they’re going to come in and we’ll be ready. I guess the point is just learn our lesson now and move on.”

Because if they don’t, the next close game could end with a different team celebrating.