The first big surprise for the masses Saturday night at the Kohl Center came during a lull in the action.

Members of the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team were milling around their bench, preparing for overtime in their duel with Minnesota-Duluth, when pounding rhythms of "Jump Around" came blasting over the sound system.

No one on the ice or in the press box knew it was coming -- the pseudo anthem for Badgers fans since 1998 has been strictly a Camp Randall Stadium phenomenon until now -- but the impact was instant.

"It brought a smile to my face," UW coach Mike Eaves said. "I was trying to talk to the team and I wasn't going to talk over that, so I just started bopping with them."

One minute into overtime, the other big surprise for the sellout crowd of 15,237 came to life.

Winger Jordan Fulton scored -- re-routing shot by defenseman Travis Gawryletz past junior goaltender Shane Connelly -- to give Duluth a 2-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory that had all sorts of ramifications.

Instead of a firmer grip on fourth place, the 11th-ranked Badgers (12-11-5, 8-9-3 with 19 points in the WCHA) dropped back into a tie with the 12th-rated Bulldogs (11-9-6, 7-8-5) with eight regular-season games remaining.

Instead of building on a 3-1 win in the series opener Friday -- thus taking a seven-game unbeaten streak into the stretch drive -- UW must gather itself to play six of its last eight on the road.

Instead of becoming of fixture at future hockey games at the Kohl Center, perhaps "Jump Around" is one-and-done given the outcome in its debut.

"Maybe we shouldn't play it again," Eaves wondered aloud, a smile on his face.

The Badgers didn't lose because of a funky dance number, nor did they lose because they played poorly. They outshot Duluth 32-23 overall, had a host of odd-man rushes and hit two pipes. They dominated the second period.

"Created more scoring chances, had more jump, played overall a better game," Eaves said.

Senior right winger Matthew Ford converted on the power play in the second period and Connelly was credited with 23 saves, but the Badgers failed to do one big thing.

They couldn't come up with an answer for Bulldogs goaltender Alex Stalock, whose 31-save effort wavered between good and great.

The latter described what Stalock did during the second period when UW tied the game and threatened to do a lot more en route to a 15-5 advantage in shots.

Asked about the top goaltenders UW has faced this season, Ford said Stalock is "right there at the top of the list" along with Richard Bachman of Colorado College.

"He plays a different style of game," Ford said of Stalock, "but he played his game."

A shorthanded goal by left winger Andrew Carroll in the first period gave Duluth the lead, but Ford got it back.

While bringing the puck up the right boards, Ford zinged a cross-ice pass to junior center and assistant captain Ben Street at the blue line. Duluth right winger Mike Curry lost his footing -- he might well have been tripped by UW sophomore defenseman Jamie McBain -- triggering a 2-on-1.

Street did a good job forcing Stalock to commit before feeding Ford for the backdoor tap-in.

But Stalock made two saves on sophomore left winger Michael Davies after Davies had shimmied his way from the perimeter into prime scoring territory.

Stalock also had some help down the stretch of the second. Shots by senior defenseman Kyle Klubertanz and freshman right winger Patrick Johnson hit the post in the final 4 minutes of the second.

"We survived the second period, I know that," Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. "We weren't very good."

The Bulldogs were playing without two starters -- center Matt McKnight was sick and defenseman Jason Garrison suffered an apparent broken leg in the series opener -- so the finish was huge.

"It was a big win, but I don't think it was the biggest (of the season)," Stalock said. "It was a big step toward where we wanted to be."

The crowd loved "Jump Around" and so did the UW players.

"That was pretty cool," Street said. "It got all our guys fired up."

But the finish wasn't music to their ears.