Minnesota closes its regular season with consecutive series against the two highest-ranked teams in men’s college hockey, per USCHO.com. The Gophers are in Ann Arbor to play second-ranked Michigan on Thursday and Friday, before playing host to top-ranked Michigan State next weekend.

There’s little at stake for Minnesota in the two matchups; four victories wouldn’t be enough to climb into the NCAA tournament conversation, and the most the Gophers could do in the Big Ten standings is jump from seventh to sixth.

But Gophers coach Bob Motzko noted his team doesn’t want to be on the ice when any opponent clinches a conference crown. The Spartans and Wolverines are in a tight competition for the Big Ten regular-season title.

And as a team with only one path to the postseason — winning the conference tournament — Motzko doesn’t mind a top-tier tune-up.

“We’re battle tested, there’s no question about that,” Motzko said on his weekly radio show. “We’re a step away. So, let’s see if we can take that step forward.”

It probably doesn’t feel that way for a program that faced fellow conference cellar dwellers in consecutive series prior to last week’s bye and left with three losses and a tie. But Motzko noted that three goals would have been a magic number in each of Minnesota’s last three games, and throughout the campaign.

There have been 12 games tied or lost by the Gophers this season in which they didn’t surrender more than three tallies.

“I think we’re a lot closer to where this team could be,” Motzko said. “We’re not talking going from five goals to six goals; we’re talking from one to two and two to three, and our record would be completely reversed. … That’s the thing we keep pushing.”

He does see signs of growth on the offensive end, noting an impressive goal from Javon Moore late in the second period of the series finale against Notre Dame two weeks ago.

“We’ve seen a few big-time goals out of him, and we’ve got a handful of other guys that are right behind him that are growing their games right now,” Motzko said. “It’ll be fun for our fans to follow as we’re going through this.”

The draw is steadily improving team-wide, and Minnesota will have LJ Mooney back in the lineup against Michigan after he missed the Notre Dame series, which figures to again jolt the power play.

It will all be needed to contend with a Michigan team that remains one of the nation’s best. While the Wolverines haven’t been quite as dominant of late, Motzko suggested that’s merely a sign of the improvement from other teams in the conference.

The Gophers were swept by Michigan at 3M Arena at Mariucci in mid-January, though one of those losses was in overtime.

“They’ve got tremendous talent,” Motzko said. “They’re dangerous offensively through four lines, and they can put points up. We have to be very disciplined.”

Especially with the puck. Turnovers are one issue Motzko noted Minnesota has to own if it’s going to be a legitimate threat to make a postseason run.

“That has cost us too many goals. That’s sometimes a sign of our youth on those turnovers and where it’s cost us,” the coach said. “It’s protecting the puck. Live to fight another day. Sometimes, we’ve got guys trying to squeeze one more play out of their shift. Well, your shift is over. You’ve got to put that (puck) deep.”

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