[media-credit name=’YANA PASKOVA/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]It seemed like a fitting end.

Hope was still lingering for Wisconsin, but with the Badgers down just 2-1 in the third period Saturday night, Phil Kessel — the highly-touted recruit and Madison native who chose Minnesota over Wisconsin — threw home the dagger.

Kessel, who had been booed all weekend, picked his spot and blasted the puck through UW goaltender Shane Connelly's legs. Skating around in celebration, he cupped his gloved hand to his ear as if to ask the sold-out Kohl Center: "What do you have to say to me now?"

The relative silence was deafening.

In a flash, UW was swept by its arch-nemesis — the second home sweep dealt to the Badgers in as many weekends — and its once eight-point lead atop the WCHA evaporated into a three-way tie for first in a matter of four games.

To use Eaves' own analogy of his team climbing a mountain throughout the season in hopes of reaching the summit — the national championship — this is a storm cloud that has hampered way too many days of climbing.

"It's just frustrating to have an eight-point cushion and now it's a race for the WCHA first place," UW assistant captain Tom Gilbert said. "It's frustrating that you do a lot of good things and you don't do a lot of good things. Unfortunately for us, we're on a little slide right now."

It is clear that the team is still feeling the effects of the loss of star netminder Brian Elliott, who went down nearly two weeks ago with a leg injury.

"Look what we've done in the first half, and even going into the second half, we were a really good team," junior Robbie Earl said. "Losing Brian Elliott, that's a big impact. He was a part of that leadership role and that's tough to deal with."

Before he was injured, the Badgers had lost just once in a matter of 19 games. They had been the top-ranked team for seven straight weeks.

"There was confidence, there was trust that Brian created with his teammates," Eaves said. "We're trying to get that created with Shane [Connelly]."

Prior to the loss of Elliott, Wisconsin had allowed three or more goals in just two regular-season games all year. The freshman Connelly and UW have given up three or more tallies in their last three games.

It's safe to say the team just hasn't been the same since that point.

However, feel free to insert a Lee Corso-like "Not so fast, my friend" here.

"You have to take a look at the situation," Eaves said. "Right now, for us, the main thing is just to maintain and kind of regroup here in the middle of the storm and make sure we're not losing confidence in ourselves."

Yes, the eight-point cushion that the Badgers had just two weeks ago is gone, but Wisconsin is still tied for first place in the best league in college hockey.

Furthermore, the Badgers' schedule down the stretch still bodes well for the team.

Connelly will try to grab his first win of his career next weekend when UW takes on a floundering Minnesota-Duluth team, which has been on a Badger-like slide as of late but did not have the luxury of an eight-point lead.

Instead, the Bulldogs have gone from potential league contenders to less-than pretenders. They have lost six straight games, none of them to teams higher than sixth place in the WCHA.

Following the series with Duluth, the Badgers will have a week off from league play as they take on Ohio State at Lambeau Field, giving Elliott one more week to nurse his injury.

Eaves said last week that he expects Elliott to be back when the Badgers travel to Michigan Tech, the first of three straight weekends against teams in the bottom half of the league standings to close out the season.

"We've dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, but you look at the bright side, it's tied [at the top of the league]," Earl said. "It's still in our hands, and it's up to us what we want to do with it."

Did UW have an eight-point lead which looked insurmountable at the time? Yes, but if you would have told the Badgers at the beginning of the year that they would be tied for the WCHA lead at this point in their schedule, they probably would have taken that.

Then again, anything is possible in the WCHA, and Eaves and Wisconsin better hope that the sun breaks through this storm cloud immediately.