BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Five takeaways on the Wisconsin men's hockey team following its Big Ten Conference series with Penn State:
One: UW has shown so much improvement this season that it's easy to forget that its margin for error has largely remained unchanged, especially in the defensive end. It's small. That point was driven home during 6-3 and 5-2 losses to the Nittany Lions at the Kohl Center. The Badgers (15-10-1 overall, 8-4 with 24 points in the Big Ten) have scored 94 goals and allowed 86 so far. While that scoring differential of 0.31 ranks 26th among the 60 NCAA Division I programs, their goals against average of 3.31 puts them at No. 48.
Two: Here's some perspective about that unsightly defensive scoring average: There are 26 Division I teams currently yielding three or more goals per game and only two others besides UW have winning overall records (Ohio State, 14-8-6; Nebraska-Omaha, 15-12-5).
Three: One more thing about that defensive scoring average. A good deal of it can be attributed to the fact the Badgers having faced five of the top 10 offenses in the nation. Penn State (4.27) is first, Ohio State (4.14) is second, Minnesota (3.89) is fourth, Nebraska-Omaha (3.38) is ninth and Boston College (3.32) is No. 10. Those four combined to score 40 goals in 10 games against UW, which was 4-5-1 in those matchups.
Four: The Penn State series marked the first time the Badgers dropped consecutive games this season — remarkable given their 12-45-13 overall record from 2014 to '16 — and the first time they didn't have a single lead during a series. UW remained 12-1-1 when it scores first, 8-0 when it leads after one period and 13-0 when it has the advantage after two periods.
Five: Despite the back-to-back losses, Wisconsin sits in sole possession of second place in the Big Ten behind leader Minnesota (18-8-2, 9-3, 27 points) with eight regular-season games left. The last time the Badgers lifted a conference trophy was when they won the inaugural Big Ten tournament title in 2014. Grant Besse was a freshman winger on that squad and every one of his eight goals came in a win. Getting Besse, now a senior assistant captain, untracked seems to be a major priority for first-year UW head coach Tony Granato heading into a home series with Michigan. Besse hasn't scored a goal in 2017, a stretch of 10 outings in which he has 21 shots and is minus-5. The last five games have seen Granato start four different left wingers with Besse and sophomore center Seamus Malone — junior Cameron Hughes, freshman Max Zimmer, junior Matt Ustaski and junior Ryan Wagner — with an eye toward coaxing Besse (8 goals, 16 assists, 24 points) into a groove. If the Badgers are going to continue to contend for another championship, it's vital they get more out of Besse.
