If you want a Cliff's Notes version of what transpired Friday night at the Kohl Center, Minnesota State-Mankato coach Troy Jutting is your man.

After the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team endured a 3-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association loss to the Mavericks, Jutting said the outcome was based on a few simple things.

"The difference in tonight's game?" he asked rhetorically. "A couple of bounces."

There is some truth in that.

Mankato bumped its winning streak to seven games and assumed sole possession of fourth place in the WCHA in part because restless pucks led to a pair of weird second-period goals that broke the game open.

Even the first conversion by the Mavericks, which came during a 5-on-3 power play in the first, resulted when a rebound wobbled over the stick of junior goaltender Shane Connelly.

If you want a more in-depth analysis of what an announced crowd of 14,833 witnessed, then UW coach Mike Eaves is your guy.

He said the 10th-ranked Badgers came ill-prepared for the task at hand — and he's not sure why.

It could have been a week filled with exams.

It could be the distraction of having families in town for Parents' Night and Senior Night.

Eaves used the analogy that his players failed to build an emotional blaze heading into the series and spent the better part of the night in search of kindling and a match.

"We were trying to build a fire the whole game and never got it done," Eaves said.

As a result, fifth-place UW (13-12-6 overall, 9-10-4 with 22 points in league play) needs to answer in the series finale tonight or face the prospect of having to chase down the 13th-ranked Mavericks (16-10-4, 10-9-4, 24 points) while closing out the regular season on the road.

It's been months since the Badgers, 5-1-3 in their previous nine games, looked this out of sorts.

Eaves said his players practiced so well on Wednesday that everyone wanted to get off the ice "because we wanted to bottle it."

After getting shut out for the second time this season — the other, a 2-0 loss at home to Colorado College on Jan. 4 — Eaves was a man in search mode.

"I just look at our guys and can't figure out for the life of me where they went," he said.

The Mavericks clinched the season series against UW — their 2-0-1 record in head-to-head games could dictate who gets the higher seed in the WCHA playoffs — because goaltender Mike Zacharias was as steady as he had to be en route to 32 saves.

The difference this night was pretty basic as far as Zacharias is concerned.

"In the first half of the game, we just wanted it more," he said.

Connelly, meanwhile, deserved a better fate during his 25-save showing, but he didn't get a lot of help.

"We didn't come out like a team that's fighting for our lives, which we are," Connelly said. "To come out like that is a little upsetting."

Mankato broke the game open on a zany play that unwittingly involved both Badgers defensemen.

A shot from the slot by Mavericks center Zach Harrison hit the shaft of defenseman Craig Johnson's stick and went airborne, hitting Connelly in the face mask.

Connelly tried to corral the rebound with his glove, but it went airborne again.

That's when defenseman Cody Goloubef took a swing that sent the puck tumbling over Connelly's left shoulder and into the net for a 2-0 deficit.

"The goal was a killer," Connelly said. "That gave our guys obviously a little jump to go get that third one," Jutting said, "and I think it kind of knocked them back a little bit at that time because it was a weird one."

The final bounce for Mankato came later in the second.

The Badgers were in the waning seconds of their fourth power play when a pass from freshman right winger Patrick Johnson hopped over the stick of Kyle Klubertanz at the left point.

At roughly the same time, the penalty expired, sending Mavericks left winger Geoff Irwin out of the penalty box and toward Connelly on a breakaway that closed things out.

"It was a wake-up call," Connelly said.