At first, Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves admitted the senior night festivities slowed his team down.

But after Colorado College outplayed Wisconsin in the first period Saturday, UW’s seniors regained focus, took control of the game and propelled the Badgers to their first victory in over a month.

After seven games without a win, the six UW seniors and their teammates finally had a victory to celebrate.

“There was a tremendous feeling in the locker room for our seniors. I don’t think we played particularly well in the first period; I think we were still wrapped up in their (pre-game) ceremony,” Eaves said. “But we responded very well in the second period and took the lead.”

After Craig Smith’s shorthanded goal early in the second period, senior forward Patrick Johnson came through with the eventual game-winner.

The Madison native took a perfect centering feed from freshman Tyler Barnes and tapped the puck past CC goaltender Josh Thorimbert to give UW a 2-0 lead.

Johnson’s eighth tally of the season continued the senior’s hot goal-scoring streak. The senior scored twice during last Saturday’s loss at St. Cloud before finding the net again in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Tigers. After his game-winner Saturday, Johnson has scored as many goals (4) in the last two weeks as he previously had all season.

So what’s been the cause for this late-season goal-scoring surge?

“Good question,” Johnson said with a smile. “I’d like to tell you… I have no idea, but I’m running with it. It’s been fun. I’ve had a good streak of luck here.”

Johnson may credit his goal scoring to luck, but his productivity Saturday night stemmed from plenty of dirty work.

The 5-foot-9, 158-pound forward continuously finished his checks and faced some punishment from the frustrated opposition as a result.

Johnson drew several penalties over the course of the night and took a couple crushing hits into the boards, but the senior stayed active and finished with a game-high five shots on goal.

Johnson’s hot hand gave the UW offensive attack a spark, but it was senior goaltender Scott Gudmandson who ended his cold-streak with a superb outing in Saturday’s 3-1 win.

Coming into senior night, Gudmandson had lost his last four starts, giving up 16 goals total. The low point came in St. Cloud, where he gave up all seven in a 7-3 defeat.

But instead of laboring over that demoralizing loss, Gudmandson wanted to put it behind him and come out strong in his last start at the Kohl Center. So for the first time in his career, Gudmandson decided not to watch that game tape.

According to Eaves, that was an early indicator that Gudmandson was ready to bounce back.

“For us as a coaching staff, we knew he was okay when he came up to us on Monday – and he was working with (Assistant) Coach (Jeff) Sanger and said he wasn’t going to watch the last St. Cloud State game,” Eaves explained.

“I didn’t think it was necessary,” Gudmandson said of opting not to conduct a game evaluation. “I just said, ‘I didn’t play very well, that wasn’t me and I’m moving on’.”

Gudmandson moved on, and the Badgers moved forward with a big win in the regular season finale thanks to his performance.

The senior goaltender finished with 33 saves and only gave up a single goal – which deflected off UW defenseman Justin Schultz’s skate and into the net.

Gudmandson and Johnson were two of the stars for UW as the Badgers broke their seven game winless streak, but Johnson acknowledged the effort of his entire senior class in their final home game.

“All of the seniors were trying to play their best,” Johnson said. “And that’s what happened tonight.”