After what was nearly the Stanley Cup of the season the night before, The Huskies took a huge step back Saturday night dropping a 5-1 decision to the Wisconsin Badgers.

Wisconsin scored four times in the first period deflating a crowd of 2,696 at Matthews Arena.

“We didn’t play hard tonight,” said frustrated Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder. “The good news is no one got hurt, but how are you going to get hurt if you’re not playing hard?”

The Huskies did manage to outshoot Wisconsin and, with a little luck and a bad pass by Wisconsin defensman Brian Fahey ended up on the stick of Eric Ortlip who beat Badger netminder Bernd Bruckler to make it 5-1.

Northeastern is now just 1-14 on power plays in the last three games.

“We’re definitly going to look at the film,” Crowder said. “We haven’t had a chance to capaltize and make a difference. We’ve got to get a lot tougher in front of the net.”

On Friday night, Keni Gibson made 43 saves and NU was able to shut down No. 1 UNH’s potent first two lines as the Huskies managed to tie the Wildcats, 2-2 in front of 4,254 fans at Matthews Arena.

“I thought our defense played really well out there tonight,” Crowder said after Friday’s tie. “Keni made some really nice saves and we meshed our lines together well tonight.”

Gibson, who’s 43 saves is a career high, gave up a goal to Sean Collins with 3:50 left in the second period between his pads after NU had flurried around UNH netminder Mike Ayers.

“It rolled up my stick and I tried to squeeze my pads, but it squirted through,” said Gibson. “I can’t think about it too much. We had our chances to score too.”

NU had gone ahead 2-1 when Joe Mastronardi skated deep into UNH’s zone got a rebound off a Scott Selig shot and roofed one over Ayers shoulder.

GAME NOTES: The 4,254 was the highest attendance in the last three years.