The game could not have started out much worse for the Spartans.

After starting the last game with two big hits in his first shift, sophomore Jagger Joshua decided to do it again, targeting Wisconsin’s Cole Caufield, the team’s leading scorer and one of the best players in the country. However, Joshua went knee-to-knee with Caufield and received a kneeing penalty 42 seconds into the game.

Caufield was slow to get up and looked to be in a lot of pain. But, he decided to stay in the game and 00:12 later he sniped a shot past Drew DeRidder to give the Badgers an early 1-0 lead.

About roughly 2:30 later, Wisconsin took a 2-0 lead thanks to a little bit of puck luck.

Brock Caufield, the older brother of Cole Caufield, tried to center the puck from behind the goal, but it instead hit off of DeRidder’s stick and ricocheted into the back of the net — Then it was the Caufield brothers: 2, Michigan State: 0.

The Badgers extended their lead even more with 5:42 left in the first period on a goal from sophomore Dylan Holloway, who was the 14th overall selection in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers.

Hoping to gain some ground in the second period, Michigan State came out not looking much better than the first period.

The Spartans registered just three shots on goal in the 2nd and had an extremely hard time leaving their defensive zone. DeRidder gave his best effort, but the constant pressure and shots on goal proved to be too much to handle.

Wisconsin added two more goals to their lead in the period, one by Cole Caufield, his second of the game, and one by senior Ty Pelton-Byce on the power play after a Kyle Haskins tripping penalty.

Sophomore forward Nico Müller hobbled off the ice in the second period and never returned, making things even more complicated for a team down Charlie Combs and Cole Krygier.

Freshman Pierce Charleson replaced DeRidder in net to start the third period. Making his second appearance as a Spartan, Charleson allowed one goal to Holloway while making 15 saves.

"We had some guys going but not nearly enough," Head Coach Danton Cole said after the game. "We are a team that we need everybody winning battles, and when you don't and our gaps are off and there's too much room in the neutral ice offensively and defensively you are going to run into trouble against a team like Wisconsin. We deserve what we got, and we got to be better."

Graduate student Robbie Beydoun was in net for the Badgers, earning his second shutout of the season. MSU registered only 19 shots on goal the entire game, but any full game shutout is quite impressive, even if it is against a team that has now been shutout three times in the month of January.

Holloway finished the game with four points, two goals and two assists, followed by Cole Caufield and junior forward Roman Ahcan with three points each for Wisconsin.

Sophomore Josh Nodler and senior Tommy Miller provided the majority of the mostly absent offense for Michigan State with three shots on goal each. MSU had two power plays Friday, but could not capitalize on either moving the power play to 3-46 (.065) on the season.

The 6-0 loss was the worst loss for the green and white since their 9-0 loss to Michigan 21 days ago. Remember what happened the next day? MSU bounced back and won 3-2.

Michigan State has a chance to do the same at 4 p.m. on Saturday with the game being broadcasted on Fox Sports Detroit Plus.