In the second game of their weekend series against Omaha, the Badgers outshot the Mavericks 44-27, scored four goals, held the edge in zone time, created chances and really played one of their better offensive games of the season.
But it was not enough.
Despite all the offensive success the Badgers had, Wisconsin ultimately could not play strong enough defense to earn a win.
In the Badgers’ (7-6-1) second contest against Omaha (8-5-3), the team played a better offensive game than it did in the first game of the series, despite earning a tie in game one. Unfortunately for the Badgers, however, they also played a much worse defensive game, cumulating in a 7-4 Omaha victory.
The Badgers flew in the offensive zone. From about halfway into the first period through the rest of the game, the Badgers looked fast through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone.
"Actually, [our neutral zone looked] good,” head coach Tony Granato said. “Until that stretch of the game (with) the ten minutes to go after we took the lead, we played well, in terms of our movement and support.”
Once the Badgers got the puck deep, they were forechecking all over the zone, creating turnovers and gaining puck possession deep. Not only did the Badgers grind it out behind the net, but they also found open passing lanes and got shots from right in front of the net.
“I mean, we had 50 shots on net last night, and we probably had close to 40 tonight. 94 shots in two games, that’s a lot of shots. That’s a lot of scoring chances,” Granato said. “So, offensively we did the right things.”
The Badgers' passing was sharp and they scored a lot of hard-fought rebound goals from right in front of the net, including two tip in goals from sophomore forward Luke Kunin.
“It definitely felt good to get a few after last night,” Kunin said. “But all I care about is winning, and winning for this team."
Even with everything going right offensively, the Badgers, once again, did not do enough on defense to secure a win. Just seconds into the game, Omaha got a breakaway and put one past freshman goalie Jack Berry, setting the tone for a poor defensive game early.
“I thought we did a good job of forgetting that [early goal]. I thought we got to our game as the first period went on,” Granato said. “But it is tough. We want better starts here.”
Specifically, the Badgers lacked transition defense for the second game in a row, mostly as a result of the forwards not back checking as hard as they needed to.
“I don’t think our play away from the puck was as good as it needs to be. I think that’s where we made mistakes,” Granato said. “They had a simple game plan. They used their speed, they flipped the puck through the neutral zone and they put pressure on our D. I thought our forwards were not as committed as they needed to be. I think we lost when there was a change in possession.”
Every goal tonight was a result of a defensive lapse, and not just a lucky bounce for Omaha. Accordingly, with the Badgers heading into Big Ten play next weekend, the Badgers will have to clean up their defensive game going forward, or teams like Penn State and Ohio State will be able to put up huge offensive stats against Wisconsin.
“I was hoping this weekend was going to be a momentum shift for us, just as far as heading into Big Ten play with a couple good games under our belt like we talked about last game with a comeback and how we played. We felt really good about ourselves,” Granato said. “Tonight, the start wasn’t great again…we just made mistakes.”
Still, the Badgers have done very promising things for short stretches of time this season, including in this game. When they were playing good transition defense, they were dominating a very good Omaha team.
“With the things we’ve done through the non-conference games, there’s enough positive things to feel good about heading into the Big Ten play,” Granato said.
“Now, we just have to realize this is an urgent point of our season where we’re going to decide if we’re going to be a good team or if we’re just going to play .500 hockey. I think our team is capable of doing some really special things going forward. It’s just more about being consistent.”
