The Wisconsin Badgers came to Ridder Arena Friday night undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country. An emphatic 5-0 victory over the No. 3 Gophers became the latest entry in what has been a dominant start to the season.

The Badgers, who improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the WCHA, have outscored opponents 51-6. The shutout on Friday was already their fourth of the season.

The Gophers (4-2-1, 0-2-1) entered the game with a bit of momentum after earning a tie at Ohio State last Saturday, but they came up woefully short against the Badgers.

“The way that we need to play was not on display tonight,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said.

The Badgers dominated play for most of the game but led only 1-0 heading into the third period before exploding for four goals in the first eight minutes of the third period to make it a rout.

“We were working hard,” Frost said. “We just weren’t accomplishing what we needed to accomplish.”

Gophers senior center Ella Huber, one of the team’s captains, felt the Gophers were prepared to put up a good fight, only to have things go the other way.

“We’ve known that they’re very offensive,” Huber said, “but we didn’t play well. They highlighted our weak spots.”

Frost said there are “a lot of things” the Gophers will need to do better on Saturday if they are going to have a chance to get a split in the weekend series.

“We need to double on pucks quicker,” he said of the Gophers’ forecheck. “We need to make stronger plays in our ‘D’ zone’, and we turned the puck over too much. Obviously, they’re putting pressure on us, but we got a little soft in trying to advance pucks up.”

The Gophers had their moments offensively but weren’t able to put any sustained pressure on Badgers goaltender Ava McNaughton.

“We left our one forechecker on an island too much,” Frost said. “They were able to bump pucks and move it up quickly.”

Play was even through the opening minutes of the first period before the Badgers slowly took control. Wisconsin opened the scoring at 16:14 when Cassie Hall beat Skylar Vetter on a wrist shot from the slot for her sixth goal of the season.

The Badgers had a 14-5 advantage in shots on goal over the Gophers, who had to kill two penalties in the period.

“That first power play that they got, we killed it but I think they got some good momentum off of it,” Frost said. “Then we took another one after that. Against a team like that, with that offensive firepower … It’s hard enough to play them five on five, let alone giving them a couple power plays to give them momentum.”

The Gophers were more forceful in the scoreless second period but still managed only six shots on goal. They had the only power play of the period, but the lone scoring chance came just as the penalty came to an end.

Wisconsin took a 2-0 lead three minutes into the third period when Finley Murphy beat a screened Vetter on a wrist shot from the slot for her first goal of the season.

The teams were playing four on four when Badgers center Casey O’Brien scored on a wrist shot from the left-wing circle at 5:13. Wisconsin’s Laila Edwards scored 16 seconds later for a 4-0 Badgers lead.

Wisconsin’s 30th shot on goal produced the game’s fifth goal and sent Vetter to the bench, with freshman Hannah Clark taking over.

Frost said there will be changes in the Gophers lineup on Saturday, including in goal.

“It’s hard when we give up four in (less than) six minutes,” he said. “They took the game over there in the third, and we didn’t. They made the plays that were necessary.”

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