Riding high on a seven-game winning streak, the Illinois hockey team was peaking at the right time. 

After a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of No. 12 Iowa State, that’s no longer the case.

After securing a first-round bye in the CSCHL Tournament by winning the regular-season championship, the Illini came out flat and were held scoreless for the first time all season Saturday.

“We got outworked, really,” head coach Nick Fabbrini said. “A lot of our guys picked a bad day not to show up.”

The Illini (23-11-2) were ineffective in the offensive zone with Scott Barrera serving a one-game suspension for fighting against then-No. 4 Robert Morris on Feb. 9. Barrera’s presence was missed most on Illinois’ power-play unit, which was 0-for-7 on the afternoon.

The opening 10 minutes of the game saw Illinois apply a lot of pressure in the forecheck, creating chances in Iowa State’s defensive zone. After a turnover during a line change, the Cyclones’ J.P. Kascsak used a breakaway opportunity to take the early 1-0 lead.

“It was probably their first real scoring chance of the game and they scored,” Fabbrini said. “That really took the wind out of our sails.”

While the second period didn’t see any scoring, the Cyclones dominated the play. Illinois goaltender Nick Clarke recorded 19 saves in the period to keep the Illini within a goal. Despite his play, the offense just wasn’t there for Illinois. Even with four power-play opportunities in that period, the Illini only mustered six shots on net and had trouble sustaining any offensive chances.

In the final period, Kascsak was the catalyst for the Cyclones again, beating Clarke on another breakaway chance to extend the lead to 2-0.

Any chance of a comeback was denied when Illinois’ bench was assessed a penalty during 4-on-4 play with six minutes to go. Seventeen seconds into the power play, the Cyclones added another goal at push their advantage to 3-0.

“I voiced my displeasure on the ref’s no-call on a pretty blatant trip in the neutral zone,” said Fabbrini, whose vocal dissatisfaction resulted in the penalty. “We lost our composure a little bit.”

Iowa State added an empty-net goal with six seconds left to put an exclamation point on the victory.

Cyclones goaltender Matt Cooper pitched his second consecutive shutout of the CSCHL Tournament after blanking Robert Morris 2-0 on Friday. Over the two days, he made 71 saves and propelled the underdog Cyclones to two consecutive victories.

The victory was Iowa State’s fifth in a row and seventh in its last eight games, although the Cyclones would lose 4-0 to No. 4 Ohio in the championship game Sunday.

Illinois’ loss was disappointing, but the Illini are using the playoff game as a tune-up before the ACHA tournament begins March 2.

“We learned what it’s going to take to win in the playoffs,” Fabbrini said. “We definitely didn’t do those things.”

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