MADISON – The Wisconsin men’s hockey team moved the needle in the right direction on Jan. 24, but the bottom line didn’t change.

The Badgers, who are ranked No. 5 in the USCHO and USA Hockey polls, dropped their fourth straight game, falling, 3-1, to No. 8 Penn State at the Kohl Center in a game played in front of the largest home crowd of the season (13,255) and on a night when the 2006 national championship team was in attendance and honored.

Wisconsin threw a shutout before allowing three goals during the final 14 minutes 56 seconds.

The effort came one day after Badgers coach Mike Hastings challenged his players to look in the mirror to see where they can improve to help the team. What was on display Saturday was better than what UW showed Friday in a 7-2 loss, just not good enough.

“We talk about being process-driven and tonight our process was better,” Hastings said.

Wisconsin created more chances but couldn’t finish

The Badgers finished with a 41-33 edge in shots. They also out-shot their opponents in their three previous losses.

Finishing has been the problem. Wisconsin has averaged 1.8 goals per game during its losing streak. Before that the Badgers were averaging 4.2 goals per contest.

Saturday the team’s leaders in shots were seniors Ben Dexheimer (six shots), Aiden Dubinsky (six), wSimon Tassy (five) and Christian Fitzgerald (five).

The only shot that got through through ironically came while Wisconsin was short-handed. Fitzgerald did the honors at the 13:10 mark off a pass from senior Tyson Dyck.

Penn State goalie Kevin Reidler finished with 40 saves

“I think we generated definitely enough chances to win the game,” Fitzgerald said. ”I think ultimately the result was caused by our defensive blunders at times.

“I felt we were in a position to win a game there going into the third, and it’s on us to do better. Can’t let that slip away.”

Wisconsin’s Daniel Hauser finished with 30 saves

That said, the UW defense was more up to the challenge Saturday. It killed three penalties during the first two periods and the play of freshman Daniel Hauser, who finished with 30 saves, was more in line with what he has shown for most of the season.

“I think Daniel Hauser absolutely answered the bell tonight,” Hastings said. “Last night, I think if you asked him, he wanted to be better and he definitely was tonight.

“Now I thought we supported him a bit more tonight, but when we did leave him on an island, he made some very, very good saves, and kept them at that point to zero.”

 The Nittany Lions got the game winner from junior Reese Laubach with 6:52 to play off the rebound of a Hauser save.

“I think it’s a team game. I think you completely win as a team and lose as a team …,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s a handful of plays that could have gone into the net,  put us up a few more goals and ultimately we lost as a team tonight, and we need to be better.”

The game didn’t end without drama.

When Wisconsin’s Blake Montgomery and Penn State’s Gavin McKenna were called for facemasking and game misconduct penalties with 10 seconds to play. Penn State was also called for four persisting misconduct penalties and Wisconsn was hit with five.

 “If you’re around our game long enough, it’s an emotional game,” Hastings said. “Guys are out there competing and sometimes it boils over. I will say, getting the guys off the ice that was probably the best thing for that situation.”

Penn State, which raised its record to 18-6 overall and 10-4 Big Ten (31 points) moved into a first-place tie in the conference with Michigan, which is idle this week.

Wisconsin (15-7-2, 8-6 Big Ten, 22 points) is firmly entrenched in fourth place, eight points behind third-place Michigan State and eight points head of Minnesota.

But if the Badgers aren’t careful, that could change next Friday and Saturday when they visit the Minneapolis. The Gophers are on an eight-game winless streak that includes seven losses.

“Obviously they’re pretty hungry,” junior Quinn Finley said. “We need to go on there with the right mindset and be ready to go Monday and make sure that we’re ready to go when we get to Minnesota.”.