MINNEAPOLIS -- Take heaping measures of embarrassment and crankiness, let them stew in the juices of pride and resolve for the better part of two weeks, and you have the nasty dish force-fed to members of the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team Friday night.

Man, did it taste awful.

Minnesota performed like the defending two-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association champions, not a ninth-place also-ran, and came away with a critical 4-2 victory over the 10th-ranked Badgers before a crowd of 10,199 at Mariucci Arena.

The Gophers came into the opener of the two-game series fresh off a bye week in which every aspect of their struggles -- with the worst offense in the WCHA and one of the shabbiest power plays in NCAA Division I at the top of the list -- surely was examined.

"Having a week to sit on it and stew on it, I think that they came out with a little more desperation," UW coach Mike Eaves said.

That emotional reality was highlighted by the fact the Badgers spent the first two periods doing little, if anything, correctly with a purpose en route to a 3-0 deficit.

"We were terrible," sophomore left winger Blake Geoffrion said.

"We were just all looking around for someone else to do our jobs," sophomore center Aaron Bendickson said.

Geoffrion (power play) and Bendickson accounted for third-period goals that made the outcome look respectable, but UW (14-13-6 overall, 10-11-4 with 24 points in the WCHA) saw its five-game unbeaten streak on the road come to an end and its status in the upper division of the league become more precarious.

Going into the series finale tonight, the Badgers remain tied for fourth place with idle Minnesota State-Mankato. They have a two-point lead on St. Cloud State, a three-point edge on Minnesota-Duluth and a five-point cushion on Minnesota (13-13-7, 7-11-5, 19 points) with three games left in the regular season.

What was it like for the Gophers to stew in those emotional juices since Feb. 9? Keep in mind they came into the night 1-4-5 in their last 10, a stretch in which they scored one goal in a game seven times and their power play was 1-for-36.

Keep in mind, too, that Minnesota, which has won five NCAA titles, has not finished lower than sixth place since the 1976-77 season when it wound up seventh.

After a week on the road recruiting, Gophers coach Don Lucia showed up at practice last Saturday in an irritable mood. One of his players asked if he'd gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.

"No, I woke up and saw ninth place in the standings," Lucia said.

Based on statistical data -- UW tends to start slowly (getting outscored 23-14 in the first period of WCHA games) and the Gophers are strong out of the gate (a 27-16 scoring advantage in the opening session overall) -- the Badgers got through the first 20 minutes with minimal damage.

Minnesota took the lead when defenseman Derek Peltier took a drop pass in transition from center Mike Carman and beat junior goaltender Shane Connelly (23 saves) with a wrister from the left circle

But the Gophers found a way to build on that advantage in the second, in part because Connelly was uncharacteristically careless with rebounds on conversions by Carman (power play) and center Patrick White.

"I wasn't as sharp as I need to be," Connelly said.

Eaves acknowledged that Connelly was fighting the puck a bit, but said that's not why Connelly was pulled for freshman Scott Gudmandson (11 saves) to start the third.

"It was a message to the team that they've got to wake up here and start playing better in front of (their) goaltender," Eaves said. "You forced our hands here."

The Gophers hadn't had more than one power-play goal in a WCHA game since Dec. 7 at North Dakota, but that came to life when right winger Jay Barriball converted from the right post in the third.

The Badgers didn't start showing any real interest until the third. Part of that might be due to the fact seven freshmen were playing here for the first time, but Eaves said veterans were just as much to blame.

"I don't if we were playing a little bit scared, or nervous, but guys' feet weren't moving," UW junior center and assistant captain Ben Street said.

One thing seems certain for the Badgers.

"Tomorrow night," Bendickson said, "is a must win."