[media-credit name=’MEGHAN CONLIN/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Brian Elliott all but erased from memory his unsettling play of just a week ago with a shutout and 64 saves this weekend against the Huskies of St. Cloud State. The Badgers took both games 1-0 Friday and 3-1 Saturday.

Saturday's game saw early goals, a feisty Husky squad that outshot the Badgers 38-26 and a Tom Gilbert goal worthy of the "Wacky World of Sports."

"Tonight we didn't play quite at that same level, but we grinded it out with what we had," UW head coach Mike Eaves said afterward. "It was gutty from that standpoint."

Wisconsin started the game out right with a goal just 51 seconds into the first period. With the Badgers pressuring, sophomore Joe Pavelski shot at Husky goaltender Bobby Goepfert from the left side of the net. His initial shot was blocked by a defenseman in the crease, but Pavelski's persistence paid off, and he managed to chip one in to take the lead early in the game.

Despite being outshot by the Huskies 15 to six in the first period, the Badgers went to the locker room still up 1-0.

Gilbert opened things up in the second period with another early goal. With what was really an attempted pass to Joe Pavelski to get the puck into the offensive zone, the senior defenseman scored from the opposite blue line to double Wisconsin's lead. Goepfert appeared to make the play on the puck, which happened to travel right at the net, but a moment or two later the puck materialized behind the goaltender.

"It must have been because of Senior Night that the puck went in for me," Gilbert said. "A goal like that is something to get us some momentum back."

The Badgers took that momentum and ran with it — or skated, rather. They didn't take over the game, with the Huskies still outshooting the Badgers 12 to 11 in the second frame, but they started to look like the team that should be winning the game and not just the team that was winning the game.

Another goal in the first minute of a period — this time the third frame — cut the Badger lead in half. St. Cloud's Andrew Gordon scored a power-play goal, and the Huskies were back in the game.

But Ryan MacMurchy gave Wisconsin a buffer again less than two minutes later with a power-play goal of his own. Gilbert took a shot from the point early in the power play that MacMurchy redirected between the legs of Goepfert for a 3-1 lead.

Elliott held on the rest of the game and finished with 37 saves, a tidy little sum.

"To be honest, I hate letting in goals," Elliott said. "When it comes down to it, you want to play your position the best that you can, and I just wanted to be solid back there for the guys, especially on senior weekend."

In Friday's game, a third-period goal by Robbie Earl was all the offense the Badgers needed to win, as Elliott saved all 27 Husky shots to get his first shutout since Dec. 10.

Things looked good for the netminder early. Elliott denied 12 first-period attempts, and he looked more confident than he had since his return from injury. The first period was also his first scoreless period since returning.

"Tonight was what the doctor ordered," Eaves said. "We've been sick, and the game itself, the outcome, was like a B-12 shot."

As the game wore along, the Badgers wore down the Huskies, and while Elliott looked good when he needed to, he faced few quality challenges. Nonetheless, the teams remained deadlocked in a 0-0 stalemate through 40 minutes.

Earl finally broke through at 3:41 in the third stanza with a self-made goal that found a sliver of light under the left arm of Bobby Goepfert. After taking a pass from Joe Pavelski, Earl skated behind the net from left to right and instead of going for the wrap-around attempt, pulled it back off the right post and took a shot from an odd angle.

"I felt like [Goepfert] was playing the back door play," Earl said. "I just saw the open short side and just went for it."

Despite facing more shots, Elliott wasn't tested as much as Goepfert was on the other side. The Wisconsin defense blocked 12 shots on the night and didn't allow the Huskies any breathing room in front of the net.

"I bet we didn't get three Grade-A chances all night," Husky coach Bob Motzko said. "That was an awful easy shutout for [Elliott]."

Throughout the weekend, Elliott made the saves he would have made prior to his injury, hopefully putting to rest some of the doubts about his play going into the playoffs next weekend.