Gophers coach Don Lucia said Wednesday his team just has to continue to play the way it has recently to do well against Alaska Anchorage this weekend in a best-of-three, first round WCHA series at Mariucci Arena.

"They are a good team," Lucia said, referring to the Seawolves. "They have obviously played very well the second half of the season. They are 8-6 in the last 14 WCHA games. We don't have to change so much as continue to play the way we have been playing.

"We are going to have our style, they are going to have their style. We have to make sure we take care of the puck. We have to make sure the puck goes behind their defensemen and not skate ourselves offsides like we did a few times the last time we played them."

The Gophers and UAA split a series on Jan. 28 and 29 at Mariucci. The Gophers won the first game 5-1, getting all their goals in transition. The Seawolves won the next game 1-0 as backup freshman goalie Chris Kamal stopped 30 shots.Since then he has become UAA's top goalie.

"It is still [about] prepping and trying to play the way we want to play," Lucia said.

"The guys feel good about themselves. We have been through a lot during the course of the season. Whether it is the ups and downs of winning and losing or the ups and downs of guys being injured and who is available and who is not. But the kids have found a way. We finished up in fifth with home ice."

The past four seasons, the Gophers have finished seventh, fifth, seventh and fifth again in the WCHA race.

"You work hard to get to this point of the season to be at home," Lucia said, "because it is important to have the two out of three games in your own building and to have the comforts of being able to stay at home and no travel or anything like that. The guys feel good. We had a good end, and any time you have a good finish it makes you feel good heading into the playoffs."

The Gophers are 5-0-2 in their last seven games. Last weekend, the visiting Gophers tied Bemidji State 3-3 and beat the Beavers 3-2 in overtime.

"The [Saturday] game meant a lot," Lucia said. "You get to the end of the year, we need to keep winning games. Obviously, for this team, if we don't win this weekend our season is over. Every game at this point in time is critical."

Right now the Gophers are tied for No. 19 in the PairWise ratings. They need to move up to at least No. 15, probably No. 14, to have a chance for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

"We were a little short-handed on Saturday night," Lucia said, referring to being without defenseman Aaron Ness and forward Taylor Matson out with injuries. "And we were able to come back from a deficit on the road and win an overtime which we hadn't won an overtime game for a while. I was kind of happy both games were tight, contested games. That is the way they are going to be this weekend."

PATTERSON SUPER

Against Kamal, the Gophers can put in a pretty good goalie of their own, junior Kent Patterson.

"He has had a terrific year," Lucia said. "He has probably been our best player during the course of this season. He's got the comfort level -- when Alex [Kangas] did go down with his injury -- [knowing] that he was going to be playing every game. And so he wasn't in a situation where he had to look over his shoulder: 'Am I going to start tonight? Am I going to play both games?'

"But before that even, he had earned that right to play by his performance."

In conference games, Patterson is first in save percentage (.926), second in goals-against average (2.31) and third in winning percentage (.674, 13-5-5).

"This will be the first time he goes through the playoffs," Lucia said. "So this will be a little bit new, although he did play in the Final Five a couple of years ago. But he is playing well, he is playing confident. And that is a pretty important position at this time of the year."

HEALTH UPDATE

Junior defenseman Aaron Ness and junior forward Taylor Matson were injured in the second period of the Gophers' 3-3 overtime tie on Friday at Bemidji State.

"We have a couple of guys that have been banged up," Lucia said. "We will have a better idea probably after practice [Wednesday] or [Thursday] about who will be available.

"Let's just say they are day-to-day. I think [Ness] is a little further ahead than Taylor. But again, we gave the guys [Tuesday] off, we did not practice. [Wedneasday] we will have a better idea of where those guys are at."

THE DON SAYS

* On whether upperclassmen need to take leading role on team in playoffs: "They have. You look at [senior center] Patrick White and all of his points have come here at the end of the season. And he is playing well for us right and we have pretty good balance with our line, especially our top three lines/ We are really not too concerned about who is out against who."

* On shortening the bench: We are playing probably more three lines than four at this stage, but everybody is going to have to produce.A lot of times your best player get neutralized and then all of a sudden a guy who maybe has not scored a lot comes up with a real big goal at this time of the year."

* On scoring 91 goals in WCHA games during the regular season, same as the 2006-07 team en route to the MacNaughton Cup: "We've scored here in the last month. We have asked a lot of our freshmen. but our seniors. have stepped up. All of a sudden we are scoring three-plus goals a game and that is the ticket. You've got to score some goals, too. We have played a lot of good hockey during the course of the season. When you don't score, you don't win. Definitely, we have to continue to play well, that obviously is going to be important this weekend. We have to try to get to three [goals], too.

* On improved power play, clicking at 32.3 percent in 5-0-2 streak: "We have two pretty balanced units. I don't think we have a No. 1 unit with our power play. We are comfortable with either unit starting depending on who is the most rested.Having two groups with the ability to score helps out, rather than just one."

On Zach Budish recovering from knee surgery: "He is just starting to skate. ... [Rehabilitation] is going well. He has kept himsefl in good shape. He is only three pounds heavier than when he got hurt. and that's not easy to do when you haven't done anything other than trying to work out for a number of months. He is right on schedule. He will 100 percent this summer. He will be able to skate and have a good summer prep for next fall."