At the end of the second period Sunday, the University of Wisconsin women's hockey team had to go back into its locker room down by a goal.

And a crowd of 2,046 at the Kohl Center saw the Badgers play without the lead for the first time this season.

"It kind of set us back on our heels a little bit," senior center and team captain Erika Lawler said. "Whenever you're in those situations where you're behind, the first thing is to kind of get frustrated. Then you give up a little bit and become a little bit complacent."

But UW upped its intensity when the third period started, and Lawler's short-handed goal midway through the final period gave the top-ranked Badgers a 2-1 victory over No. 2 Minnesota in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game.

Senior winger Angie Keseley said UW coach Mark Johnson put it on the players to start the third period with more energy after being outshot 16-3 in the second period.

"Coach gave us the option of if we wanted to win or lose, it was up to us. He gave us 15 minutes to decide what we wanted to do," she said. "I guess we decided to win the game"

Just more than 5 minutes into the third, Keseley found teammate Hilary Knight standing next to Minnesota's net and it became a tie game.

Lawler scored the game-winner a little more than 6 minutes later after winning a one-on-one battle with Minnesota's Rachael Drazan.

Johnson said the game was key in teaching his players the importance of playing both the physical and mental game.

"I think collectively, if you go out and compete and play with some enthusiasm and some energy, you can be pretty good," he said. "I think we saw both sides of that today. You could have talent, but you still have to work and play aggressive to be successful."

Keseley seemed to have picked up on that lesson.

"If we work hard, we're a pretty good team," she said. "If we don't, we're an average team. I think we came out in the third period and saw how good we can really be."

The Badgers (9-0-1 overall, 5-0-1 WCHA) also proved they could win a tight, low-scoring game. They came into the weekend having outscored their opponents 52-7, but managed just three goals in the series.

The victory gave the Badgers a win in the series over the Gophers (5-2-1, 4-1-1) after the teams battled to a 1-1 tie Friday — Minnesota did get an extra point in the standings for winning the shootout after the tie.

The Badgers have another big series next weekend as eighth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth team comes to the Kohl Center for games Friday and Saturday. Lawler said the team already is excited.

"If we play (against Duluth) like we played in that third period, then they're going to have their hands full," she said. "It should be fun."