The No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team was forced to battle the top-ranked University of Wisconsin and its top-ranked power play repeatedly Saturday afternoon, and the result was a 5-1 loss for the Bulldogs inside AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.

With the win, the Badgers edge out UMD on the weekend in Western Collegiate Hockey Association points, pulling in a total of four, while the Bulldogs pocketed two off their tie and shootout win Friday.

"That was a tough one for us," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. "I don't think we had the same jump that we had yesterday. ?I thought we were tired. Obviously, Wisconsin made some adjustments to their game plan. They played us really hard and they're super talented. ?We've got to be better at playing disciplined and staying out of the box, because when you go up against their power play, it's pretty lethal, and we felt that tonight."

The Badgers opened their scoring midway through the first at 11:31, the lone goal of the first period.

Wisconsin's first penalty of the game was a game misconduct for spearing at 8:18 of the second period. But the Badgers special teams deflated UMD's chance of an equalizer with a shorthanded breakaway at 11:59. UW followed that up with a power play goal by Caroline Harvey at 2:21 later, and just like that, the Bulldogs found themselves down 3-0 after 40 minutes of play.

Rookie Rae Mayer pulled UMD within two with her own breakaway shorthanded goal at 7:34 of the third. Mayer managed to pull UW goaltender Ava McNaughton out of her net glove slide and put the puck behind her for the 3-1 score. But the Badgers buried the Bulldogs in two more power play goals at 11:35 and 16:02 to close any comeback thoughts out for UMD Saturday afternoon.

Eve Gascon had 44 saves in the game – equalizing her average in four games against Wisconsin this season. Despite the five goals, Gascon only gave up two at even strength in the contest. Outshot 49-17 in the game, UMD's 17 shots tied a season-low and was just two shots more than the Badgers had on just power play shots over the entire game.

McNaughton had 16 stops for the Badgers, who went 3-of-7 on their power play and improve to 19-1-2 overall and 13-1-2 in the WCHA.

The Bulldogs (12-9-1, 8-7-1) will continue their current homestand (their second-longest of the season) next weekend when St. Cloud State University comes to AMSOIL for a Friday-Saturday WCHA series. Friday's game is scheduled to get underway at 6:02 p.m.