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MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's hockey team allowed two special teams goals and couldn't solve Minnesota goaltender Eric Schierhorn, as the Badgers fell 4-0 to the Gophers on Friday night at the Kohl Center.
 
Wisconsin (4-11-6, 1-6-2-1 Big Ten) came out with a jump in the opening 20 minutes and outshot the Gophers for the bulk of the first period.
 
But Minnesota (12-10-0, 7-2-0-0 Big Ten) scored on its first power-play opportunity at the 14:12 mark of the first when Hudson Fasching tapped the rebound of a blocked shot past UW goaltender Matt Jurusik. That gave the Gophers the only offense they needed.
 
Wisconsin had chances to stay in the game, and outshot Minnesota 29-25, including a 13-7 edge in the second period. But despite several quality scoring chances, Wisconsin couldn't put the puck past Schierhorn, who got his third shutout of the season.
 
"It's time for us to start winning games and it's only a consolation for so long to say, 'We were in that game, we outshot them.' But we've got to start winning," senior captain Eddie Wittchow said.
 
One of the best opportunities for Wisconsin came in the first period less than two minutes after Minnesota had taken the 1-0 lead. After collecting the puck just outside the Minnesota zone, Cameron Hughes toe dragged past a Minnesota defenseman in the right circle and then cut to the front of the net. But Schierhorn managed to make a pad stop on Hughes to sustain the Gophers one-goal advantage.
 
Minnesota took that lead into the first intermission and doubled its advantage a little less than six minutes into the second period. Steve Johnson beat Jurusik on a three-on-two rush at 5:58 of the second to make it a 2-0 edge for UM.
 
"Right from the start, I don't know if we got too amped up for the game, but the play with the puck is not what I expected," Eaves said. "It's not what we have seen recently. We had trouble connecting the dots, making passes and catching passes."
 
Again, just a few minutes after Minnesota scored, Wisconsin found itself with another quality scoring chance. This time Ryan Wagner got sprung free on a breakaway, but he got his stick lifted and couldn't get a clean shot away.
 
Four minutes later the Gophers found the back of the net while on the penalty kill to put the game out of reach, as Justin Kloos wristed one past the blocker side of Jurusik.
 
Wisconsin got one more quality chance in the game, but Grant Besse couldn't convert a short-handed breakaway with 9:01 left in regulation. That left Wisconsin scoreless for the third time this year.
 
Minnesota scored its final goal with 1:05 left in regulation.
 
"Especially for this series, everyone knows the task at hand tomorrow. I don't think there's any problem putting this behind us," Wittchow said. "Obviously it gets us a little more amped for tomorrow because everyone's tired of losing games like this."
 
Freshman Luke Kunin saw his three-game goal scoring streak come to an end in the defeat.
 
Wisconsin will go for the series split with the Gophers on Saturday night. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center, and the game will be televised by ASN.