MANKATO, Minn. — Entering both Friday and Saturday’s third periods, the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team was faced with a pair of familiar situations — trying to hold onto a one-goal lead.
But having been in this position several times already this year didn’t seem to matter, as the Badgers squandered the lead both nights, falling 4-3 in overtime Friday and settling for a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s contest.
It was the second weekend in a row in which UW failed to secure a victory when holding onto a narrow lead in the game’s final period. Just last weekend at the Kohl Center, Wisconsin allowed the Denver Pioneers to tie the game with only 14.4 seconds to play in regulation. Earlier in the season, the Badgers held a three-goal third period lead over the Northern Michigan Wildcats before watching the lead evaporate and eventually falling 6-5 in overtime.
Having been through that scenario before, however, didn’t seem to make it any easier for players and coaches to find answers as to why late leads continue to slip away.
“I don’t know what the problem is, but there is a problem clearly because it keeps happening,” senior forward Tom Gorowsky said following Saturday’s tie. “I don’t know why every time we get in the third period with the lead, we get a bad bounce or make a mental error and for whatever reason can’t hold onto the lead. But we’ve got to find a way to fix it.”
Head coach Mike Eaves felt his team did what it needed to do while protecting the lead Saturday — staying aggressive and creating opportunities to score.
“I think if you were to look at the film and were we going after it, were we playing on our toes, our forecheck stayed aggressive,” Eaves said. “We were doing things that would indicate we were on our toes and moving forward. … We did have some scoring chances, there’s no doubt about that.”
However, Friday night’s game looked a bit different for the Badgers in the third period. Playing with a 3-2 lead heading into the final frame, Wisconsin managed just four shots on Minnesota State netminder Mike Zacharias while giving up nine shots — including the game-tying goal by MSU’s Kael Mouillierat.
After Jerad Stewart’s winning goal in overtime, UW dropped to 12-9-2 on the season when scoring first. Still, Eaves said stats alone didn’t tell the story of Friday’s third period.
“As a matter of fact, you go back and look at that third period, you’ll see that the chances we had, we missed the net on some of them, so those don’t even count as shots on net,” Eaves said. “You hit a goal post, it’s not even a shot on net. You can’t get caught up on ‘Well, you only had four shots on the goalie.’ There’s a lot more to that.”
The way Wisconsin gained the lead Saturday was a different story from the night before. It was Minnesota State that jumped on the board first, with a goal midway through the first period and another early in the second.
Down 2-0, though, the Badgers came storming back. Three unanswered goals, including two off the stick of Michael Davies, gave UW the lead — and the momentum — 12:42 into the second period.
“We had good energy, and guys were just like they were last night — playing hard, into it, which was good,” Eaves said Saturday. “That was a positive for us.”
The Badgers proved, though, it doesn’t seem to matter how they go about obtaining their lead. The rule of thumb remains the same: a third-period lead is never safe.
“It’s like a riddle, and we need to solve it,” Davies said. “We’re getting our opportunities. We’ve just got to start bearing down, put the puck in the net. I guess that’s going to come with team maturity.”
Given what was at stake entering the weekend — a chance to potentially clinch home ice for the WCHA playoffs, as well as make a case for an NCAA tournament bid — the Badgers knew they left opportunities on the ice at the Alltel Center.
“It’s really frustrating,” Gorowsky said. “You want to be known as a clutch team and a team that can win at those points. Right now, it’s not working for us. We already see it as playoffs, and we’re blowing these chances, which really hurts.”
