While the Gophers were splitting at St. Cloud State, the Badgers, their next opponent, were struggling to take three points from Bemidji State, now winless in 12 games (0-9-3), at home.
Wisconsin (12-9-7, 9-6-7 WCHA) won 3-2 on Saturday by taking a 3-0 lead and holding on against Bemidji State (5-17-6, 4-13-5). ... The Gophers play at Bemidji State on the last weekend of the regular season.
The Badgers, with 25 points in the conference, are now in a three-way tie for fifth, just one point behind the third-place Gophers (11-5-4), who have two games in hand on all the other contenders.
"We'll try to win games any way we can," assistant captain Derek Lee said in a UW news release. "I think we've seen in different weekends throughout the season this year that we can play at a higher level. We're looking to do that game in and game out, so we know it's there. We just have to harness that and bring it to every weekend."
The Badgers have only six conference games left.
"We've carved out this little path for ourselves to make something here," Lee said. "We just have to make sure we're all pulling the rope in the same direction and ready for each game."
Keegan Meuer gave Wisconsin a 1-0 lead after Brad Navin stole the puck from Bemidji State goalie Mathieu Dugas behind net -- watch out Adam Wilcox -- and fed Meuer in front for an open-net finish 6:24 into the first period.
The second goal came at the 12:06 mark of the opening period. Michael Mersch skated the puck out of the left corner of the Bemidji State zone, then made a cross-ice feed to a trailing Brendan Woods, who came down the slot to score back door on Dugas.
Kevin Schulze of White Bear Lake made it 3-0 in the middle of the third period when Dugas let a glove save slip out of his grasp. Schulze scored on the rebound.