MADISON, Wis.— The No. 9/10 Wisconsin men's hockey team suffered a 3-2 loss to Mercyhurst on Saturday night at the Kohl Center, despite scoring early and holding two leads through the contest.
 
Mercyhurst (5-4-2, 2-2-2 Atlantic Hockey) was outshot by the Badgers (8-6-2, 3-2-1-0 Big Ten) by a 35-25 margin, but battled through two deficits for the win in the series opener.
 
Senior Jason Ford got Wisconsin on the board early in the first period, crashing the net for a rebound that would give the Badgers a 1-0 lead at the 1:59 mark of the game.
 
The lead held through the first and into the second frame until MU's James Anderson tipped a shot over senior goaltender Kyle Hayton's glove to knot the game 1-1.
 
The deadlock held for over 20 minutes until junior Seamus Malone put UW up 2-1 at the 5:27 point of the third period. Malone sped into the corner to help Will Johnson, who was tied up with a Mercyhurst defender and fed the loose puck towards the net. The puck went under Lakers' goalie Brandon Wildung and redirected off of his left skate, giving Malone his fifth goal of the season.
 
Mercyhurst rallied to score two goals in the final 12 minutes of the game while Wildung made several key saves when Wisconsin had an extra attacker to secure the 3-2 win.
 
Hayton made 22 saves in the defeat, moving to 7-5-2 on the season.
 
Notes to Know
-Each team took just one penalty during the game and both went scoreless on the advantage.
-The loss marks the Badgers first-ever loss to a team from the Atlantic Hockey Conference. Wisconsin is now 13-1-0 against the league.
 
Straight From the Rink
Head coach Tony Granato
On the game
"I don't think there were any surprises. We knew what Mercyhurst would throw at us. I don't think enough guys played well. That's pretty much how you can explain that one. Mercyhurst deserved a road win because they had big players make big plays and not enough of our big players played well enough. I thought Cameron Hughes' line with Seamus Malone and Will Johnson were good pretty much the whole night. We just needed more lines like that." 
 
On Fredric's line struggling
"They didn't have a good game. They didn't sustain a whole lot offensively. They made some mistakes defensively, lost some battles that ended up in our net. It wasn't a good game for those guys. Those guys are our best players. They'll respond tomorrow. They'll bounce back and have a good performance tomorrow. That's what we need out of our team. There's been a lot of this where we don't have a good game and our response has been good. I expect the same tomorrow." 
 
"You have to give the other team credit. That's a good hockey team. They went into Penn State and won. They had a goalie that played very well, especially at key moments in the game tonight. The power play we had, he was outstanding. We made a breakaway save right after we made it 2-1, and he made a big save there. If we were to go to 3-1, I'm sure it would have been a different game. We have to be better tomorrow." 
 
On getting through to team
"Obviously the game's over. I wish we had played better. There were things from a game plan that I don't think we got to. I don't think we forechecked well enough. I don't think we protected the puck well enough. I don't think we supported the puck enough. There are parts of the game we're disappointed in, but tomorrow's a chance for us to respond. It's not going to be easy, I'll tell you that. (Mercyhurst) is going to come out now with gained confidence in how they play. They gained confidence as they went along. First period, we were in good shape. Second period, they had a pretty good stretch there where they started to get some chances. They did a nice job of flying the zone and getting guys behind us."
 
Cameron Hughes 
On what was said after the game
"It was probably the same thing Coach Granato said. It's really frustrating when we lose those games. We're just better than that, and it's unacceptable. I think we all know we've got to be better." 
 
On Wisconsin turnovers and poor possession
"Give (Mercyhurst) credit. They hung around. They played their game with their style and did a good job with it. We maybe fed them a little bit, and gave them life. Like I said before, this is not going to sit well with us. We're going to be better tomorrow. That's all we can do at this point." 
 
Seamus Malone 
On his goal
"It was all throwing pucks in the net, and good things happen. I was actually trying to get a rebound but obviously it went in so that's fine with me. Our line was going all night. I thought we were working hard down low, and couple bounces didn't go our way so it was good to get one going for us." 
 
Jason Ford
On getting the next goal
"We had some good chances in the first and you have to bury those. You can't let teams hang around. It was tough, but we just have to bring it out and bury that and play all 60 minutes and we'll be fine." 
 
Up Next
Wisconsin closes out the series with Mercyhurst on Sunday with a 5 p.m. puck drop. The game will be televised on BTN and broadcast on WTSO 1070.