[media-credit name=’AARON BRENNER/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Badgers flew as far north as they'll go for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series when they took on North Dakota this past weekend. With everybody healthy and back in the lineup, the Badgers' season may be headed in a similar direction.

A 4-2 victory in come-from-behind fashion Saturday evening followed up a 4-3 win on Friday night, giving Wisconsin (7-9-2, 4-6-1 WCHA) its second sweep of North Dakota (7-8-1, 5-6-1) at Ralph Engelstad Arena in as many years.

Saturday's game between UW and UND indicated the second split of this season between these two teams, as the Fighting Sioux took a 2-1 lead late into the third period. But it was at this time Wisconsin's veterans stepped up and stole a victory for the upstart Badgers, who have banished an earlier 1-8-0 slide into distant memory.

With 3:31 remaining in the game, senior captain Andrew Joudrey took a pass from senior forward Jake Dowell, and sent a wrist shot off the left pad of UND goaltender Philippe Lamoureux. Senior forward Ross Carlson slapped the rebound into the back of the net to send home the eventual game-winner.

"Joudrey made a nice pass. We work on that in practice, going far-side and making it bounce out," Carlson said. "It's a great shot, a great pass, and you could see it happen."

Carlson, who added an empty-netter with 1:21 remaining, had his best game of the year by far. Wisconsin's active leader in career points coming into this year, Carlson doubled his season point total to date, earning two goals and two assists for four total points on the night.

"It's a big thing for us to come out here with the sweep up in North Dakota," Carlson said. "They're a tough team to play against up here, and they always come hard."

Just 97 seconds into the game, North Dakota got on the board with a power-play goal, when Brad Miller's shot from a tough angle squirted through the pads of UW goaltender Brian Elliott. Defensemen Brian Lee and Chay Genoway earned helpers on the play.

But the Badgers answered right back with a power-play goal of their own. Dowell's wraparound slapshot was deflected in at 13:02; Jamie McBain and Carlson were credited with assists.

The lone goal of the second period was a strange one. North Dakota took a 2-1 lead when Jonathan Toews cleared the puck from the zone, ending up on the stick of Robbie Bina, who had just finished serving a minor. Bina skated up on a breakaway and fired a shot over Elliott's glove for the goal.

"[The goal was] maybe a little bit of instinct, probably some good fortune," said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. "But it was a good play to get it there. It was certainly a good play by Robbie. He finished it."

UW head coach Mike Eaves wasn't happy with how the first period panned out Saturday, but was thrilled about his team's effort down the stretch in snatching the comeback victory.

"The bottom line was we survived the first period," Eaves said. "The second period, things started to level out a little bit. We had some scoring chances before they scored. The timely bounce came out; they had a nice shot to get the lead. But we had a response after they scored. We just kept going with what we needed to do."

Hakstol was forlorn in trying to explain how his team managed to drop both points that, with a few minutes remaining, seemed well in hand Saturday night.

"We made two mistakes. That's the difference in the game," Hakstol said.

UW was also victorious in the series opener Friday night, scoring a 4-3 win in what turned out to be a more energetic game than the Saturday finale.

It appeared the officials were content to keep both teams in line as they met for the first time since a series split back in Madison the weekend of Oct. 13-14. In all, 19 penalties were called, and both teams were able to take advantage.

North Dakota went 2-for-6 on the power play. Ryan Duncan opened the game's scoring with a power-play goal just eight minutes in — the first of his two goals Friday night — and Genoway knocked one in on the man advantage with 11:42 remaining, cutting UW's lead to 4-3.

But in between those two special teams goals for North Dakota, it was all Wisconsin in just their second game of the season scoring more than three goals. Joudrey answered back quickly from Duncan's goal, knotting the game at one just 51 seconds later, and UW proceeded to score three out of the four second-period goals to gain the victory.

Though the Badgers were just 1-for-7 on their power-play opportunities, McBain took a power play shot from the point that dribbled in past Lamoureux at 4:18 of the second period, giving the Badgers a 2-1 lead.

Duncan got his second goal of the night midway through the 2nd, but the Badgers put the game away with a pair of goals at the tail end of the middle period. Dowell got an unassisted score, his 9th of the year, on an odd-man rush, followed by a physical goal by a sprawled-out Matthew Ford with 1:01 left in the period.

"There's three periods, and we've got to figure out how to play the whole damn game," said Hakstol, whose UND team has struggled this season in the second period, being outscored 26-15 coming out of this weekend.

Dowell said it was a confidence booster for a struggling UW offense that Lamoureux was benched for the third period in favor of Anthony Grieco.

"Oh, definitely. But I didn't realize that until midway through the third period," said Dowell of Lamoureux being pulled. "For us to come out tonight, four different players score, is awesome for us. For us to spread that out, that has been our goal."

The Badgers were able to take advantage of their opportunities on both nights, something that has been a season-long struggle for an offense that was averaging fewer than two goals a game entering the UND series.

"Things were just starting to go our way," Ford said Friday night. "We were just shooting the puck, crashing the net, and the bounces went our way."

Carlson concurred, refusing to say whether Wisconsin is necessarily playing better than it did during its 1-8-0 slide earlier this year.

"I wouldn't say we're different; bounces are [starting to] go our way. That's the best way to put it," Carlson said Saturday. "We've played hard all the way up to this. Bounces just weren't going in for us, and now they are, so it's a great feeling."