The Gophers found themselves tied 1-1 with St. Cloud State after two periods on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena, and according to Gophers assistant captain Ella Huber, the message from head coach Brad Frost was direct: That’s not good enough.

“Our coach was like, ‘Let’s go. You guys have to prove yourselves and win,’” Huber said.

It took the Gophers only 13 seconds to respond, with Huber scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal as the Gophers beat the Huskies 5-1 for their eighth straight win.

Controlling the puck near the left-wing boards in the SCSU zone, Josefin Bouveng found a streaking Huber with a pass across the slot, and Huber beat Huskies goaltender Sanni Ahola for her 10th goal of the season.

“We’ve been reiterating ‘hard to the net,’” Huber said. “Great pass by Josefin.”

A loss to the fifth-place Huskies would have put a major crimp in the Gophers’ quest to catch Wisconsin for second place in the WCHA. Disappointment averted, the Gophers (24-5-1 overall, 18-5-1 WCHA) will begin a two-game series with the Badgers in Madison on Friday with a chance to move into second place with a sweep.

Despite the eight straight victories, the series represents the first real chance at redemption for the Gophers since being swept by Ohio State a month ago.

“I think that’s always been in the back of our minds,” Huber said. “I think our confidence has been building, and we feel good now.”

The Huskies (15-13-1, 10-13-1 WCHA), played their usual tight defensive style to keep the Gophers in check through two periods. Madison Kaiser followed Huber’s goal with her sixth of the season at 13:17 before Huber and Ava Lindsay added empty-net goals.

“They’re tough,” Frost said of the Huskies. “You look at their scores against anybody. They are a structured, well-coached team that makes it very difficult to get to their net. Obviously, the empty-netters made it look like it was not as close as it was.”

The Gophers scored the only goal of the first period, with Abbey Murphy picking up her 29th of the season. Murphy, who scored the only goal in the Gophers’ 1-0 win over the Huskies in St. Cloud on Friday, matched her goal-scoring output from a year ago.

SCSU got the only goal of the second period when Avery Farrell beat a screened Lucy Morgan on a wrist shot from high in the slot.

The question for the Gophers moving forward is whether they have enough offense to make a deep run in the postseason. They next face one of the best defensive teams in the nation in the Badgers.

“It’s kind of been a worry all year — the scoring piece,” Frost said.

Frost recently reunited the top line of Bouveng, Huber and Murphy, and the Gophers will need to continue to get major production from their No. 1 line.

“There’s no doubt that they kind of make our engine go,” Frost said. “We have started to get that secondary scoring, too, which we are going to need as well.”

The Gophers have scored 84 goals in WCHA play this season, compared to 111 for Wisconsin and 119 for top-ranked Ohio State. But Frost does not consider that to be a death knell.

“I think what we’ve been proving here of late in that we can defend, too,” he said.  “And, in order to win big games and come playoffs you’ve got to defend.

“So, ever since that Ohio State situation we’ve tightened up defensively and done a much better job.”

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