ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The first punch in any fight not only needs to land square, it should produce teary eyes and some blood.

Such a blow was registered Friday night and it was members of the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team who wound up with a nasty headache and a split lip.

UW opened the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs with a 3-0 loss to St. Cloud State that offered a stark contrast in just about every area of performance.

The Badgers were outperformed in every measurable category.

Even their best player this night, junior goaltender Shane Connelly, was outdone in a side-by-side comparison.

"We never, never got it going all night long," UW coach Mike Eaves said. "It was really a struggle to find it and get something going."

The Huskies, meanwhile, displayed all the important traits necessary to survive in the postseason.

Their defense was stellar, their special teams were dominant and goaltender Jase Weslosky did something few have done. Weslosky was credited with 24 saves as the Badgers (15-15-7 overall) were shut out in a WCHA playoff game for just the fourth time since joining the league in 1969.

That milestone decision gave St. Cloud State (18-14-5) a critical edge in this best-of-three series that continues tonight. Since the WCHA adopted its current playoff format in 1987-88, only once has a road team lost the opener and come back to win the series.

"Our challenge is to be the second team," Eaves said.

In four previous meetings this season — all decided by one goal — the Badgers won the shots-on-goal battle, had the upper hand defensively and generally dictated the even-strength pace en route to a 3-1 record.

All that changed this night, much to the delight of the crowd of 4,005.

UW was held to 10 quality shots on goal and never was able to match the energy or the imagination brought by the Huskies, who blocked 19 shots and converted a turnover and two rebounds into goals by wingers John Swanson, Ryan Lasch and Andreas Nodl.

"They played harder. They put pucks at the net. They got loose pucks. They outbattled us," Connelly said after his 28-save effort.

At no point did it look like the Badgers had a rhythm or a sense of self.

"A couple shifts here and there," junior center and assistant captain Ben Street said, "but for the most part I think we were kind of fighting each other and fighting ourselves."

At least one person is certain UW, now 4-7-4 on the road this season, will be a vastly different team tonight.

Huskies coach Bob Motzko said it was "probably unfair" that the Badgers had a bye to end the regular season last week, while St. Cloud hooked up in a high-grade series at North Dakota.

"I really felt we carried last week's momentum into tonight," said Motzko of a pair of overtime ties that allowed his club to pass UW and grab the last home-ice berth.

Most every coach will tell you that special teams will dictate a playoff series one way or another.

Over here you have St. Cloud, which was 2-for-6 on the power play and 3-for-3 killing penalties.

Over there you have the Badgers, who have allowed nine conversions in their last 26 times shorthanded for an abominable 65.3-percent kill ratio.

Curiously, a moment of potential inspiration for UW came to life early in the first period on special teams.

The No. 1 power play in the league during the regular season had a 5-on-3 spanning 1 minute, 19 seconds, but Connelly made four saves and the Badgers killed it off.

"That could have been a turning point for us," Eaves said.

UW had a power play shortly thereafter, but managed zero shots and the momentum was gone for good.

"That was a huge kill, a turning point for us in the right direction," Motzko said.

The bye week alibi might have some relevance, but Connelly isn't buying it.

"You can blame it all on the week off, but, I mean, it's the playoffs," he said. "We need to come out and have no excuses."

Despite the loss, the Badgers remained 12th in the unofficial pairwise rankings, which mimic the formula used by the NCAA to seed and align the 16-team field.

Eaves didn't know that when he assessed Game Two thusly: "We're battling for our (NCAA) berth lives," he said.