UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Wisconsin men's hockey team could not stymie the nation's top-ranked offense in No. 19 Penn State, falling 8-2 to the Nittany Lions Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena. 

After going down 2-0 in the first period, Wisconsin battled back to tie the game up at the 11:46 mark of the second frame on goals by Mick Messner and Wyatt Kalynuk, but a barrage of goals near the end of the period gave the Nittany Lions a 5-2 advantage heading into the third period. 

Penn State added three goals in the final period to cap an 8-2 win over the Badgers. 

Freshman goaltender Daniel Lebedeff stopped 40 shots in 45 minutes between the pipes, and junior Johan Blomquist made eight saves in the relief effort. 

Notes to Know: 

• Freshman forward Mick Messner tallied his seventh goal of the season in the loss. The Madison native now leads all UW rookies in goal-scoring with seven tallies in 31 games this season. 
• Sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk's goal in Friday's loss marked the rear guard's fifth point in the last eight games for UW. Kalynuk has notched a goal and four assists during the stretch. 
• Junior Johan Blomquist made his season debut in Friday's loss, recording eight stops for the Badgers. 

Up Next: The Badgers close out their final regular-season road series of the year Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena. Puck drop for game two against the Nittany Lions is slated for a 6 p.m. start (CT). 

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On the loss: 
"I defended our guys effort in staying in games, and how hard they've played and how close they've come. Tonight, that wasn't close. That was about as far as you could get from being a good hockey game. We needed to make some big plays. We gave up plays coming into on our end. There was a lack of compete and energy and work getting to the puck. It hasn't been an issue before, but tonight we were not ready to play a good team. With four games to go, we talked about getting ready for the playoffs and making sure this was a good opportunity for us to finish strong. This was disappointing and we expected to be a lot better." 

Sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk
On the loss: 
"Obviously we weren't feeling good tonight. They wanted it more than us. We just have to forget about it and come back tomorrow.