The Illinois hockey team had a pair of polarizing performances over the weekend, as it split a pair of games with Iowa State (8-5-1).

In a matchup with evenly matched teams — the Illini are No. 9, with the Cyclones ranked No. 10 — self-inflicted errors were the difference on the weekend.

Friday saw Illinois (9-2-2) limit those mistakes and dominate en route to a 6-4 victory, while Saturday’s game was riddled with mistakes and led to a 5-3 defeat.

“I think we dominated pretty much the whole game (Friday),” defenseman Mike Evans said.

Friday matched a season-high with six goals scored, tying the team’s output against John Carroll earlier this year. It was a diverse attack, with five different players scoring on the night, and the Illini chased the Cyclones starting goaltender Paul Karus out of the game. Illinois scored four times in a 15-minute stretch that spanned the end of the first period into the second before Iowa State pulled Karus in favor of Scott Ismond with Illinois holding a 4-2 lead.

“I thought we played a really strong game other than about a two-minute stretch at the beginning of the third period,” head coach Nick Fabbrini said.

The beginning of the third period saw a pair of breakdowns for Illinois, and the Cyclones capitalized, scoring twice in 54 seconds to tie up the game.

Illinois would answer back, however, when sophomore forward Jon Langan found the back of the net off an assist by JT Turner with a little over 12 minutes left to go. Freshman John Olen would add an empty net goal — his second score of the game — to seal the deal.

Saturday was a complete flip of the script for both teams. Iowa State outshot the Illini 43-27, and earned a 5-3 victory. Despite not scoring in the first period, the Cyclones would light the lamp five times in the final two periods, and Ismond kept the Illini from coming back.

“The only reason we were even in the game was because of Nick Clarke in net,” Fabbrini said. “We’re a better skating team than Iowa State and we didn’t use that to our advantage at all.”

Mark Huber and David Kurbatsky netted two goals apiece for Iowa State. Kurbastsky’s goal with five minutes left pushed the Iowa State advantage to 5-3, essentially sealed the game.

“We lacked the intensity from Friday night on Saturday,” Evans said.

Illinois was short-handed on both ends, although it appears they will be getting back to full strength heading forward. Defensemen Ben Burbridge and Anthony Carlsen were out due to a concussion and pulled groin, respectively. On offense, Fabbrini said he expects forward Derek Schultz to come back next weekend, as he recovers from a torn meniscus.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.