Following the Wisconsin men’s hockey clash with Minnesota-Duluth Friday that resulted in a 3-3 tie, Saturday meant just one thing for both teams: unfinished business.

Minnesota-Duluth ended up taking care of that Saturday, winning 4-2 and in the process revealing the difference between a talented top-ranked Bulldogs squad and a talented yet inexperienced Badgers core.

Wisconsin (7-9-2, 4-8-2 WCHA) never trailed Friday night, taking a 2-0 advantage into the second period and a 3-2 lead early into the third, but was never able to put the nation’s No. 1 team away. UMD (13-3-3, 11-2-2 WCHA) scored two second period goals to tie the game heading into third and then responded quickly to Wisconsin’s early third period score. The Bulldogs played strong after that point, limiting any UW opportunities to regain the lead.

“In the second half of the third period, their poise and confidence with the puck rose to a level that we don’t quite have yet,” Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said. “We’re just trying to get through that and encourage our guys on the bench to play with that poise and confidence – to be authoritative and to have that belief that we can make plays. So that was a good experience for us, to get through that against the No. 1 team in the country.”

Finding a way to earn even a single point in the WCHA standings was no small feat; the Bulldogs were undefeated in 12 straight games coming into Madison, but the tie left the Badgers trying to stay level-headed.

“We talked about that as a team because there is a side where we’re happy with the point against the No. 1 team in the country, but there’s also that fine line where we cannot be satisfied,” Eaves said. “We had a 3-2 lead in our building, and it slipped away, and we need to take that and build on that for [Saturday]. If we slip tomorrow from where we are tonight, then this game tonight does us no good. We have to continue to push forward, and our attitude is ‘let’s not be satisfied; let’s continue to push.'”

The strength Minnesota-Duluth showed, rallying twice to force the tie, and the subsequent comments made by Wisconsin players foreshadowed the 4-2 game two loss to come on Saturday.

“I think [the poise to comeback] is part of the reason they won [the national championship] last year,” UW defenseman Justin Schultz said after game one. “They know how to win and win on the road especially. I think we’re young, but we’re figuring it out. It’s going to take time, but I think we are almost there, and it was a good game tonight.”

One day wasn’t enough time.

Badger freshman Brad Navin, who scored his first two goals of the season in the series, summed up Wisconsin’s game one performance as proof that the Badgers “can play with the No. 1 team in the nation,” but the ability to beat them is another story.

All season long, the Badgers have battled, defeating other highly-ranked teams multiple times but seeming to stumble in the next opportunity to prove consistent improvement, and game two’s loss was a testament to that trend.

“Tonight we were hopeful about taking that next level step,” Eaves said. “But I don’t think we took a step back to where we started, by any stretch of the imagination. We were hopeful we’d be able to build off of last night, but they had a great start and we didn’t.”

Following both games, there was a sense of frustration from Badger players. Game one featured eight power play opportunities for Wisconsin, yet the Badgers were only able to convert one of them. But the chances were there,and UW forward Mark Zengerle mentioned having nothing to do but laugh as the puck failed to find the back of the net despite many great looks.

Saturday UW defenseman John Ramage spoke about the frustrating feeling that “every day in practice we battle hard and we’re doing everything right,” yet the Badgers are struggling to translate that preparation into consistent play and wins.

Wisconsin is no doubt talented, but even when down 2-0, frustration wasn’t an emotion that the Bulldogs appeared to have. That is in large part thanks to a veteran team loaded with experience, something Wisconsin doesn’t have yet.

‘We talked about it all week – they have that intrinsic knowledge after going through what they went through last year in that locker room, and they pass that to the young guys,” Eaves said. “That’s one thing that we miss right now.”

While the Badgers try to develop that missing element, it’s back to the drawing board.

“We’re going to get back to practice, back to work and figure it out,” Ramage said. “This is something that we need to find out about our team and move forward.”