The Wisconsin women’s hockey team has, much like actual badgers, holed themselves up into their den, LaBahn Arena, as the season winds down.

The No. 3 Badgers (21-4-3, 16-4-2 WCHA) are 8-3-1 this season when playing in LaBahn, and the rink serves as a kind of fortress in itself in that not many come out with a win. However, Wisconsin finds a worthy opponent knocking on the door this weekend as University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs travel across the border looking to play spoiler to the Badgers.

The Bulldogs (17-7-4, 12-7-3) are now ranked seventh in both major women’s hockey polls. The last time the Badgers played the seventh-ranked team in the country they won a two-game series against then-No.7 Clarkson, with a decisive 4-0 win in the second game following a tie in game one of the series.

Wisconsin freshman forward Emily Clark, who tallied her second career multi-goal game last weekend at Minnesota State, will hope to replicate the results of her performance against UM-Duluth earlier in the season. In the team’s first meeting of the year she tallied her first career multi-goal game in a 4-1 defeat of the Bulldogs.

Clark’s goals last weekend provided steady production as Wisconsin swept the Mavericks with two convincing wins, and she’ll look to continue her success with a repeat performance against the Bulldogs.

The Wisconsin players credited head coach Mark Johnson’s lineup adjustments for leading them to an eight-goal weekend. Johnson reconfigured the lines to create new energy between players in an offense that had been, until recently, quite stagnant.

“Coach switched up the lines and gave me an opportunity to play with new people,” Wisconsin forward Brittany Ammerman said of her new place on the second line with Clark and forward Annie Pankowski. “It helped us to find a good vibe together. I think that’s been making a difference.”

This past weekend against Minnesota State marked the first time the Badgers have scored more than five goals in a series since a late November matchup against New Hampshire. While five goals may be an impressive statistic for another team, it is not for the Badgers, who averaged 8.5 goals per series through the first half of the season.

As spring inches closer and the weather hints with promises of warming up, so too are the Badgers, who find extra motivation in this weekend’s series with playoff implications on the line. Wisconsin can secure second place in the WCHA with a pair of wins this weekend over UM-Duluth, who are currently nine points behind UW in the standings.

“I think it’s one of our bigger rivalries since I’ve been here,” Ammerman said. “It’ll be fun and a good contest this weekend …We’re two completely different teams but they’ll be a bit angry since we swept them [in October].”

Defense will be a focal point for both squads this weekend in Madison. Each team is ranked in the top 10 defensively in the nation, with Wisconsin third in goals allowed per game and the Bulldogs in sixth. Badgers’ netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens currently has nine shutouts and the Bulldogs’ Kayla Brown is one behind her with eight.

“It starts from the inside out,” Wisconsin defenseman Katarina Zgraja said. “Ann [Desbiens] has been playing great despite her not getting a lot shots in some games. Back-checking is important as well. If someone gets beat, then there’s others to help them out.”

Including this weekend’s games, three series remain for the Badgers in the regular season. They will look to hang onto their No. 3 ranking and maintain their second place position in the WCHA standings. With the 2014-15 season approaching its end and the stage being set for the postseason, it’s become crunch time in Wisconsin’s camp.

Quick Facts:

Game One: Friday, Feb. 6, 7 p.m.

Game Two: Saturday, Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Where: LaBahn Arena; Madison, WI

Wisconsin Players to Watch:

F Annie Pankowski – 31 pts., 14 G, 17 A

F Emily Clark – 21 pts., 8 G, 13 A

G Ann-Renée Desbiens – 18-4-3, 1.22 GAA, .938 save percentage

UM-Duluth Players to Watch:

F Ashleigh Brykaliuk – 28 pts., 14 G, 14 A

F Zoe Hickel – 28 Pts., 16 G, 12 A

F Jenna McParland – 18 pts., 7 G, 11 A