The Wisconsin men's hockey team went on the road for only the second time this season and came home from St. Cloud with a series split for its efforts. The Badgers generated plenty of scoring opportunities Friday night but had trouble finishing and allowed two goals in the final minute of the contest in a 4-1 loss. Then, led by its defense, Wisconsin rebounded Saturday night and handed the Huskies a 4-1 loss.
Friday night's loss was not because of a lack of scoring chances for the No. 15 Badgers. In what has become a theme this season, the offense peppered freshman goalie Mike Lee with 39 shots. Converting on those chances, however, was the problem for the Wisconsin offense, particularly down the stretch.
The three-goal differential in Friday's result is deceiving, as the two teams were locked in a battle for most of the night. Wisconsin had chances in the third period, trailing 2-1 for nearly the entire period. With 47 seconds left and junior UW goaltender Brett Bennett on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, St. Cloud put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal. The Huskies converted again seconds later, this time on a breakaway, to put the exclamation mark on the victory.
Senior forward and captain Blake Geoffrion accounted for the Badgers' only goal of the night, scoring on a 4-on-3 power play midway through the first period. Junior defenseman Brendan Smith registered his team-leading ninth assist on the play.
Saturday night Wisconsin responded with a spirited effort. Smith opened the scoring just over five minutes into the game. He tallied a power-play goal after his initial shot ricocheted off a defender's skate.
After St. Cloud tied the contest later in the first period, the Badgers found themselves in trouble in the second period. Wisconsin's penalty-kill unit had fought hard to fend off back-to-back penalties when freshman Craig Smith received a five-minute major penalty for checking an opponent into the boards from behind.
However, the Badgers responded well, killing off the major and, when it was all said and done, killing off nine straight minutes of SCSU power play. With the momentum soundly in UW's favor, senior forward John Mitchell put the Badgers ahead for good with his second goal of the season. The goal came with 5:09 remaining in the second period.
Sophomore forward Jordy Murray and junior forward Patrick Johnson converted on third period scoring opportunities to round out the scoring on a night in which the Badgers racked up 35 penalty minutes on 12 penalties. In conjunction with the defensive effort, junior goaltender Scott Gudmandson registered 18 saves to improve his record to 3-1-1 on the year.
The Badgers (5-4-1, 7-4-1 WCHA) take a weekend away from WCHA play next weekend and tour Michigan. Wisconsin stops in East Lansing for a 6 p.m. matchup with Michigan State before closing out the weekend in Ann Arbor Saturday night. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. against the Wolverines.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
