ST. PAUL — The Wisconsin men’s hockey team learned a valuable lesson this past weekend: The way it starts games does in fact go a long way in determining how it finishes them.

That first became evident at the WCHA Final Five Friday afternoon where the Badgers came out flat and struggled to find their groove in the semifinal against St. Cloud State. As a result, SCSU goaltender Mike Lee settled in, and the Badgers were stifled offensively, losing 2-0 at the Xcel Energy Center.

Head coach Mike Eaves had difficulty explaining why his team looked so lethargic at the start, and he mentioned the challenges a rare afternoon start can present (UW played both games at 2 p.m.).

But Eaves refused to use that as an excuse, insisting the sub par effort early on boiled down to lack of execution and focus. Throw a hot opposing goaltender into the mix and there was more than enough standing in the way of a UW victory.

“It’s hard to explain why we came out the way we did. It was disappointing and the guys realized that,” Eaves said. “We weren’t as sharp as we know we can be. I think for the first seven minutes we had turnovers at the blue line, (and) never got [the puck] deep. We got better and started to come on, but we never solved the riddle of Mr. Lee.”

Senior forward Michael Davies had an even harder time explaining why UW started the Final Five so flat.

“I don’t know what it is. You have got to be ready to go from the drop of the puck, and we were a little hesitant at first,” Davies said.

But in the third-place game 24 hours later the Badgers looked like a completely different team.

UW wanted to get out to a fast start and it wasn’t going to let Denver goaltender and conference player of the year Marc Cheverie stand in its way.

The junior netminder was chased out of his net after allowing three quick goals with just over 11 minutes gone in the opening period.

“Well obviously the start we had here tonight was the direct opposite of the one we had last night,” Eaves said. “We had the jump, got some goals (and) started the way we would like to, and that carried us through the rest of the game. The great start was a critical point for us tonight.”

The Badgers continued to build on the momentum created, and they pulled out a convincing 6-3 victory over the top-ranked Pioneers and improved to 16-2-1 when scoring first.

According to sophomore center Derek Stepan, who scored UW’s second goal Saturday, the tremendous start boiled down to a commitment to playing simple hockey.

“Just keeping it simple was something we really wanted to do. Getting pucks on the goalie and getting traffic in front of him were some keys that we were trying to focus on to get that great start,” Stepan said.

Eaves shuffled every one of his lines for Saturday’s contest in an effort to infuse some energy into his team knowing a good start would be crucial. The 6-3 score line highlighted the merits of that decision.

“I think we got stale. There was no question that after last night’s game we needed to switch things up,” Eaves said. “I think [the strong start] was a combination of the team responding, and the changes that we made that gave us a little more energy at the beginning of the game.”

And while senior tri-captain Ben Street acknowledged the spark the new lines gave he and his teammates, the senior forward expected the Badgers to come out flying seeking redemption after Friday’s loss regardless.

“Any time you switch [the lines] up it creates energy. Its get you into the game a little bit; you’re talking to your new line mates. But overall as a group we were more ready to go,” Street said. “We knew we needed a little retribution from our night before. Whether or not we changed the lines we would have had the same start.”

As the Badgers and 15 other teams prepare for NCAA tournament play, they know their execution late in games will be critical to their postseason success. But for UW, it’s how you start, not how you finish: Wisconsin is 23-0-2 when leading after two periods and 0-9-2 when trailing entering the third.