The Wisconsin men's hockey team (18-6-2, 13-5-2 WCHA) suffered a sweep at the hands of Minnesota (18-6-4, 13-5-2 WCHA) over the weekend, leaving the two teams tied for first place with Denver.
It was the second consecutive weekend the Badgers were swept at home, and also the second straight weekend without star goaltender Brian Elliot.
'They came into our building, and we're a little banged up in terms of having a key player out, and they took it to us,' Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said.
After falling behind 5-1 in the second period, the Badgers made Friday night's game interesting in the third, but the comeback fell just short, and the Gophers picked up a 5-4 victory.
Junior right winger Danny Irmen got the scoring started for Minnesota just over one minute into the game with a shot from behind the net that bounced in off Wisconsin goalie Shane Connelly's leg pad. The goal was the first of three for Irmen.
'Danny had a great game tonight; these are games for men only, and the top men are supposed to be the ones delivering, and that's what Danny did,' Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said.
Wisconsin freshman forward Ben Street evened the game at one by re-directing a Matt Olinger point shot, but Minnesota's Alex Goligoski put the Gophers back up minutes later with a slap shot from the point past Connelly's blocker.
The second period was one the Badgers would like to forget. Minnesota netted three goals in the period, led by two goals in the same shift from Irmen.
'That was the turning point in the game right there, they scored two goals in one shift,' Burish said.
Within the first six minutes of the third period the Badgers had cut the Minnesota lead to just one and electrified the sell-out crowd with goals from freshman forward Jack Skille, senior forward Nick Licari and sophomore forward Matt Ford.
'Our third period today we won, that's going to carry into tomorrow; that's the attitude the guys have right now,' Burish said after Friday night's game.
The Badgers did just what Burish said they would, and carried Friday night's momentum into Saturday night, scoring one goal in the first period and outplaying the Gophers in all aspects of the game.
Gilbert put the Badgers on the board when he took a perfect pass from the corner from junior forward Robbie Earl on the power play, and shot a wrist shot to the upper-right corner of the net.
Minnesota's Ryan Potulny tied the game in the second period, and the score would stay notched at one until the third period, when Gopher sophomore winger Ben Gordon took a pass from Irmen and beat Connelly low past his left leg pad for the game-winning goal.
Madison native Phil Kessel put the icing on the cake with a wrist shot through Connelly's five-hole amid boos from the Kohl Center crowd. The boo's got louder when Kessel skated around the rink with his hand to his ear taunting Badger fans.
