The Wisconsin men’s hockey team lost twice this weekend against the Penn State Nittany Lions with a shutout Friday night and a loss by four Saturday at the Kohl Center, ending the Badgers’ seven-game win streak against Penn State.
Badgers get shut out on Friday
Wisconsin started the game strong with a power play opportunity, but the Nittany Lions got into their groove quickly as well. They killed the penalty and scored off a rebound behind Wisconsin goaltender Tommy Scarfone only three minutes into game time.
The Badgers kept the heat on and pressured offensively with quick passes, hard hits to the boards and intercepting passes. Wisconsin has not trailed often to start games. In the Badgers’ series against Minnesota last week, the Badgers started game one up 2-0 then ended up losing 5-2.
Wisconsin then lost forward Ryland Mosley, who received a five-minute major and misconduct for head contact. This was his second penalty of the season and his first major.
“I thought losing Ryland [Mosely] right away, it rattled us a little bit…but to me, that’s opportunity for some guys,” head coach Mike Hastings said after the game.
After period one, Wisconsin led Penn State in 8-6 in shots on goal and 8-5 in face-offs.
The Badgers kept the stakes high and maintained offensive control for the first five minutes of the second period. At 14 minutes, Wisconsin added six more shots-on-goal to their stat.
Scarfone had two big saves right at the halfway mark of the game. In one play he faced one opponent, and the next he faced two alone.
In the third period, Wisconsin received two more penalties and killed them both.
With 45 seconds left in the game, Fink scored an empty-net goal for Penn State’s 2-0 win.
The last time Wisconsin got shut out was Nov. 24, 2023, when they played at the Kohl Center against Alaska Anchorage. The night also broke the Badgers’ seven-game win streak over Penn State.
“Last weekend, the time for adversity came later in the games,” Hastings told The Daily Cardinal. “Tonight they came early. You’ve got to be able to respond to adversity.”
Badgers forward Cody Laskosky has faced some recent challenges. He had three shots during this game, the first one he’s played in in two weeks.
“We had trouble getting into the zone on entries — clean entries,” Laskosky said. “I think that was our biggest issue. It was a lot of skating up and down the ice instead of just controlled o-zone time. We’ll clean that up for tomorrow.”
A game full of penalties on Saturday
Wisconsin lit the lamp first Saturday night with a short goal by junior forward Kyle Kukkonen. This was his eighth score of the season and first since December.
Immediately after a tension-filled play, Penn State won a faceoff and defender Cade Christenson drilled the puck in behind Scarfone, tying the score at 1-1.
The first period remained tense, with hits every few seconds. Freshman forward Gavin Morrissey and graduate student Anthony Kehrer received consecutive penalties with less than a minute left in the first.
Wisconsin went into the second period playing 3-on-5. They killed those penalties off early in the frame, but Fitzgerald and Lions defender Casey Aman soon received two minutes each for roughing.
After both penalties died, Lions forward Reese Laubach scored next, putting Penn State ahead 2-1.
The Lions scored again only 4:49 into the third period when Laubach got in front of Wisconsin defenders and went 1-on-1 with Scarfone for his second goal of the night.
The momentum for Wisconsin returned and they scored about halfway into the power play. Mosley made his third goal of the season off a quick pass from Morrissey at the goal line and brought the Badgers back to only down by one, with 13:34 left in the game.
Scarfone and Morrissey were both awarded with assists on this goal. This was Scarfone’s first career point and the first point for a Wisconsin goaltender since 2022.
With Penn State up 3-2 with eight minutes remaining, Dyck received a high sticking penalty with less than eight minutes to go in the third.
Penn State capitalized on this opportunity, scoring their fourth goal of the night only 32 seconds into the power play.
Wisconsin defenders Jack Phelan and Palodichuk each grabbed another penalty for cross-checking and hooking.
With four seconds left in the three-on-five, Penn State sank another goal and put the Lions up 5-2.
Wisconsin used their next opportunity on a power play to pull their goaltender and give themselves an advantage by two on the ice.
Unfortunately for the Badgers, Penn State missed two near empty-net goals before making their third attempt of the night. The Lions increased their lead to four.
The Saturday night game ended with a Penn State victory, 6-2. The Badgers ended the weekend with a combined total of 14 penalties.
“Spending the amount of time that we were five on three, you’re playing with fire,” Hastings said after the game.
Junior forward Ben Dexheimer said, “That hasn’t happened to us much this year, and at the end of the day we just need to build up more discipline.”
Last laps
The Badgers are now 11-16-3 and have extended their losing streak to four. This marks the second straight series loss in two weeks, with the Badgers falling to Minnesota just last weekend.
Wisconsin only has two series left of regular season Big Ten play before the tournament. Up next is an away matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Feb. 14 and 15.
