MADISON, WI- Madison Capitols winger Mick Messner netted his second overtime game-winning goal in as many games on Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Messner’s goal finished off a 4-3 victory against the league-leading Dubuque Fighting Saints.
The University of Wisconsin commit was fresh off of ending Friday’s game against the Cedar Rapids Roughriders with his first overtime goal of the weekend in a 2-1 victory.
Messner opened the scoring on Saturday with a breakaway goal, pushing his point streak to four games. In that span, he has a total of four goals and one assist for a total of five points.
A few seconds later, Dubuque would tie the game with a slap shot from Austin Rueschhoff. Rueschhoff took a pass at the top of the faceoff circle and wired the puck over the shoulder of Capitols goalie Dryden McKay.
Dubuque defenseman Patrick Kudla added another goal to take a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Madison answered back and retook the lead with goals from Noah Weber and Verners Egle.
It was a back and forth affair until late in the third period when Fighting Saints winger Colin Theisen scored to tie the game at 3-3.
After five minutes of overtime, Messner took a pass from defenseman Cole Hults and fired a shot over Saints netminder Jaxon Castor to end the game.
“It was a total team effort…they played together the whole game, grinded it out, and got a nice win,” said Capitols assistant coach Jake Suter.
With three goals over the weekend, Messner is now sitting in first place on the team with a total of 10. He is also fourth on the team with 19 points.
McKay made an impressive 30 saves in the contest. His 15 wins is now a single-season record for the young franchise.
Saturday’s game was also Pucks N’ Paws night, with fans bringing in their dogs to watch the game. Some fans were less excited about the win due to the added distractions.
“I didn’t get to see the goal because I was too busy trying to keep my beer away from Jack,” said Ryan Coyle about his dachshund.
After a rough start to the season, the Capitols have started the new year on a hot streak with wins in eight of their last 10 games. Many of those wins came on the road, as the Capitols just wrapped up a month long road trip.
The Capitols return home on March 5 to face the Sioux City Musketeers.