Everything was right there for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team. Just take care of business against the last-place team in the conference — which had lost seven in a row — and lead the Big Ten for the first time in months. Turns out it’s not that easy.

With a chance to overtake Michigan State for first place in the Big Ten with a sweep last weekend, the Badgers (22-8-2, 13-6-1 Big Ten) took one of a possible six points from Ohio State (11-15-4, 3-15-2 Big Ten), who entered the weekend with just one conference win in 18 tries, in Columbus. They left the weekend with three.

They say teams want to play their best hockey at the end of the season, but peel the mirror back a bit for Wisconsin and you’ll see a team 3-4-2 in its last nine games played, dating back to a tie with Lindenwood Jan. 13, with just four regular season games to go. They’ll enter the year’s penultimate weekend four points behind Michigan State.

“The one thing that we have to do, which hopefully we’ve tried to do from day 1, is look in a mirror,” UW head coach Mike Hastings said. “And right now, what we have looking back at us isn’t good enough.”

Here’s how it went down in Columbus last weekend.

Game 1: Wisconsin 2, Ohio State 3 (Overtime)

In the first two periods of Friday night’s contest, both teams struggled offensively. Shots on goal were 17-11 in favor of the Badgers, but to that point, the goalies played well.

In the third period, UW finally got on the board with Jack Horbach netting the first goal of the game off of a rebound situation out front of Ohio State goalie Logan Terness.

The score would remain 1-0 for quite a while despite UW’s Simon Tassy taking a five-minute major penalty, one the Badgers killed off. Ohio State had the response eventually though with 5:52 left, thanks to Michael Gildon.

Just 2:18 later though, UW defenseman Ben Dexheimer wired one past Terness off the rush to restore the advantage for the Badgers again. But once again, Ohio State tied it with just 1:39 left. The game would go to overtime.

In the extra session, Wisconsin had the better of the possession, but Ohio State won it after Davis Burnside blew past Cruz Lucius and slipped one past UW goalie Kyle McClellan to give the Buckeyes the 3-2 overtime victory.

Game 2: Wisconsin 1, Ohio State 3

In game two, the Badgers thought they had an early 1-0 lead, but the goal was called back due to an offside. Then Ohio State struck twice in the final five minutes of the first period to lead 2-0 at the end of the first period.

The Badgers responded on the power play with a rocket shot from David Silye, who now has three goals in his last four games, to cut it down to 2-1. That’s as close as the Badgers would get it. Barely two minutes later, Joe Dunlap restored the two goal lead and the Buckeyes took that to the third period.

In the third, a defeated-looking Badgers squad could muster just 10 shots and no goals, and lost by the eventual 3-1 score.

Quick Hitter 

The Badgers played this weekend without one of their most important players in Owen Lindmark, and in game two, lost Jack Horbach after a heavy open-ice hit thrown by Ohio State’s Scooter Brickey. No penalty was called on the ice or after the ensuing review.

Hastings, for his part, was not happy with either of those decisions.

“I’m sorry, I do think we’ve got a responsibility to take care of the student-athletes,” Hastings said in an interview with BadgerExtra. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Stars of the Weekend

3 – David Silye, Wisconsin. A goal and an assist this weekend make it back-to-back series with multiple points.

2 – Scooter Brickey, Ohio State. Along with his huge hit on Horbach, had four assists on the weekend.

1 – Davis Burnside, Ohio State. Had two points this weekend, including the game-winning goal in overtime in game one.

Up Next

The Badgers hit the road for the second straight weekend, heading to University Park to take on 6th-place Penn State. Puck drop on Friday is at 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, with both games streaming on B1G+.