The offensive woes continued as Ohio State swept the season series with Wisconsin.
The collapse of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey season is nearly complete. Ohio State finished the four-game season sweep last weekend in Columbus, and the Badgers looked like a team waiting to be put out of their misery.
Wisconsin’s scoring issues continued as the Badgers (11-18-3 overall, 6-15-1 B1G) put up only three goals over two games to extend their season-long losing streak to six. They have now lost their last four games by multiple goals after suffering just three such losses all year.
The Badgers started the scoring Friday night and left the first period with a 1-0 lead, but that would be all, as No. 8 Ohio State (20-8-2 overall, 13-6-1 B1G) posted the next four goals to win going away. The script flipped momentarily on Saturday night when the Buckeyes scored late in the first to take a lead into the intermission. A quick flurry of goals from graduate student Ryland Mosely and freshman Ryan Botterill put the Badgers ahead just a minute and a half into the second period, but Wisconsin native Max Montes pulled Ohio State even before the Buckeyes sealed the deal with two goals late in the third period.
Head coach Mike Hastings went for a different look in net Friday night, giving freshman Anton Castro his first-career start. The rookie settled in with six saves in the first, but allowed three goals over a six-minute stretch spanning the second and third periods to end his night early. Senior Tommy Scarfone relived Castro and resumed his starting role again on Saturday night.
Hastings also tinkered with the lines on Saturday night, bringing junior Kyle Kukkonen up to the top line in an effort to jumpstart the offense. As evidenced by the results, the changes against Ohio State failed to provide the much-needed spark.
It’s been the same refrain the last two years for Wisconsin, who nearly outshot Ohio State two to one on Friday night and edged them by ten shots on Saturday. They are causing commotion but failing to capitalize, while opponents on the other end are making the most of limited chances and converting. Wisconsin’s leading scorer, sophomore Quinn Finley, has been kept off the score sheet for three weeks while the top line struggles to produce goals, something that’s felt contagious throughout the entire bench. Finley didn’t help matters when he got sent off early in the second period Friday night with a game misconduct for charging the goaltender.
If you’re looking for a positive takeaway, Wisconsin largely cleaned up the penalty problem that plagued them against Penn State. The Buckeyes went to the power play twice in each game with zero goals to show for it. When the Badgers killed off Finley’s five-minute major to preserve their lead it felt like they had all the momentum, they just failed to capitalize.
When push comes to shove, these are just two teams trending in opposite directions late in the year. While the Badgers have dropped six in a row, Ohio State is surging toward the finish line, winning five of their last six and currently sitting tied for second in the B1G standings with four games to play. The Buckeyes will open the B1G tournament on home ice, and if I were a betting blogger I’d say there’s a good chance that’s where Wisconsin ends up.
Wisconsin ranked third in the conference just four weeks ago when Michigan came to town, but has now plummeted to sixth, ahead of only a Notre Dame team that’s posted 11 points in conference play and visits Madison for the Wisconsin regular season finale this weekend. The only silver lining is that Wisconsin will not finish last in the B1G, thanks to the Fighting Irish boasting the only offense more anemic than the Badgers in conference play.
With their route to an at-large bid eliminated, Wisconsin can now set their sights on the upcoming B1G tournament as their last-ditch effort, however unlikely, to earn a way into the postseason. The Notre Dame series carries no implications, so it will be interesting to see if the Badgers implement any new wrinkles ahead of the conference tournament. Worst case scenario, Wisconsin uses the final weekend of the regular season as a much-needed reset button.