It’s a night she probably won’t forget.

Senior captain Blayre Turnbull scored her first career hat trick on senior night Saturday, part of Wisconsin women’s hockey’s 5-0 defeat of the visiting Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.

The senior class of Turnbull, Brittany Ammerman, Karley Sylvester, Katarina Zgraja and Katy Josephs were recognized with their families prior to the game.

Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson started all five seniors, meaning Sylvester started on the defensive line, a position the left wing is not accustomed to.

“It’s a tough night,” Johnson said. “The parents are coming off, the kids are emotional, a lot of them have tears in their eyes. It’s over four years of work and all of a sudden you’re looking at this night being one of the last times they put on the Badger jersey with parents and friends in town.”

But Wisconsin hardly started slow, as Turnbull found the back of the net twice in the first period to help the Badgers jump out to an early, commanding lead. She later scored her third power play goal in the third period.

The Stellarton, Nova Scotia native’s first goal came midway through the first period on a breakaway where she skated past a defender and shot the puck low on the glove-side to sneak it past Minnesota-Duluth starting goalkeeper Kayla Black.

Wisconsin’s next two goals came off rebounds Black could not contain. Black had stopped all of Wisconsin’s 41 shots Friday, but seemed to struggle with the Badgers’ shots on Saturday.

One reason for the Badgers’ success could have been the power play chances, as Wisconsin had four power plays in the first period and converted on three of them.

With 13 penalties in the game, both the power play and penalty kill units came up big for Wisconsin.

The Badgers had to stave off a 5-on-3 opportunity in the first period before going on a 5-on-3 of their own just a few minutes later.

Wisconsin did not convert with the two-man advantage, but quickly lit the lamp after UMD returned one of their players to the ice.

The power play, after not converting on any chances Friday, had nine shots on goal, with four of them resulting in goals. Wisconsin’s power play had struggled recently with only four total goals in its previous 14 games.

Wisconsin’s early offensive success made the Bulldogs switch their goalkeepers just 20 minutes into the game, when the Badgers had a 3-0 advantage.

When Wisconsin saw Duluth change keepers, it wanted to come out even more aggressively getting pucks to the net.

“You just want to pester them with shots right away to test her out,” Turnbull said. “I think we did a good job of that. Although we didn’t score in the second period, we came out hungry in the third period for more goals.”

In the third period, Wisconsin found the back of the net again, with another power play goal by Turnbull.

“I guess in one way it was special but at the same time the main thing is that we won,” Turnbull said. “So that was better for me than getting a hat trick.”

Turnbull set a Wisconsin record with three power play goals on the night, the most by one player in a game.

The five-goal victory was also the largest in favor of the Badgers in the history of the series between the two schools, and their largest since a 5-0 win at New Hampshire Nov. 29.

“It was good to see,” Johnson said. “It’s senior night, her dad is in town and it’s an emotional start to the game. For her to go out that way and get a hat trick on a special night, being our captain and leading us, you’re very happy for those situations when they happen.”

Wisconsin came out strong Saturday for the seniors after a hard-fought draw the previous night.

“I think we just had a lot more energy,” Wisconsin freshman Annie Pankowski said. “We were out there for our seniors today and we just really wanted to win for them so we had a lot of energy from that.”

The energy level was higher for Wisconsin, who may have worn out the Bulldogs in the 0-0 draw and shootout win Friday.

The seniors were able to leave LaBahn Arena on a positive note, but this will not be the final home game for this senior class.

The Badgers clinched at least the second seed in the WCHA, meaning they will host a WCHA playoff series later in February. Wisconsin can also host the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament if they receive one of the top seeds.

The senior ceremonies may be over, but the seniors are still working at a larger goal of winning a national championship.