Colorado College had its share of chances on Friday.

But, able to cash in on only one of seven power plays, the Tigers paid a dear price in their first home-ice post-season game since March 2009.

Sophomore left wing Ryan Little flicked a wrist shot from just inside the blue line off the catching hand of CC netminder Joe Howe at 4:12 of the third period, lifting the University of Wisconsin to a 3-1 victory in the opener of the teams' best-of-three WCHA playoff series at the World Arena. 

Little's tally snapped a 1-1 tie in a contest that saw Colorado College out-shoot the visiting Badgers by a 28-22 margin. While 10 of those attempts came on the power play, only one – a second-period deflection by junior center Nick Dineen – eluded UW netminder Scott Gundmandson, who finished with 27 saves compared to Howe's 19.

Freshman Jefferson Dahl, a linemate of Little's on Wisconsin's fourth forward unit, scored into an empty net with 10.9 seconds left in the game to seal the triumph.

Dineen's red lighter gave CC a 1-0 lead at 5:53 of the middle frame after he got a piece of junior defenseman Gabe Guentzel's shot through traffic in front of the net from the outer edge of the left faceoff circle. Senior winger Stephen Schultz also earned an assist.

The Badgers, who officially finished 0-for-2 on their own power play, pulled even at 12:11 of the same stanza, just moments after the second of just two Tiger penalties for the night expired. It was freshman defenseman Joe Faust who got UW on the scoreboard, beating Howe cleanly with a rising bullet from the left side after taking a pass from rookie winger Michael Mersch.

Wisconsin improved to 21-14-4 with the victory while Colorado College, which enters Saturday's rematch in a “must-win” situation, slipped to 19-17-3.