If the thought crossed their minds, it likely zipped through in an instant and did so in the deepest recesses of their subconscious.

Did members of the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team think they could be making their final appearance of the season Saturday night at the Kohl Center?

Oh, yeah.

"I thought about it during the course of the day today," UW coach Mike Eaves said, "just in terms of you're not sure how it's going to unwind here."

The pulse of that notion became happily more faint after the 10th-ranked Badgers registered a 4-2 triumph over Minnesota State-Mankato and a split of their Western Collegiate Hockey Association series before a sellout crowd of 15,237.

UW followed up a 3-0 setback Friday with a decision that enabled it to move back into a share of fourth place with the 13th-ranked Mavericks heading into the last four games of the regular season.

Another loss would have kept the Badgers (14-12-6 overall, 10-10-4 with 24 points in league play) in fifth place, but in precarious straits for a home-ice berth in the WCHA playoffs given they close out the regular season with series at Minnesota and St. Cloud State.

That's to say nothing of the NCAA Midwest Regional, which is being staged at the Kohl Center in six weeks.

The thought of not playing another game at home was entertained briefly by UW senior defenseman and captain Davis Drewiske, but he put it to rest.

"I think we're so focused here on what we have to do to get home ice in the playoffs, then to get back here for the NCAAs, it's almost like it's not an option," he said. "We've got a job to do."

The Badgers got an important effort from their special teams — 2-for-6 on the power play, 5-for-5 killing penalties — and rode the work of junior goaltender Shane Connelly (30 saves) to a much-needed victory.

Drewiske accounted for one of the man-advantage goals, while freshman winger Patrick Johnson, sophomore left winger John Mitchell and sophomore winger Michael Davies (power play) added the others.

One night after being shut out for the second time at home this season, UW took the initial lead, then built on it with a three-goal burst in the first 13 minutes, 10 seconds of the second period.

Those three conversions had something vital in common: An element of chaos in front of Mavericks goaltender Mike Zacharias (25 saves).

"They did a good job there," Mankato coach Troy Jutting said of the Badgers.

Sophomore center Aaron Bendickson squeezed off a wrister from the right circle that Mitchell, storming down the slot, rerouted past Zacharias.

The turning point, as far as Jutting is concerned, came when winger Rylan Galiardi was busted for slashing midway through the second.

"We took a dumb, dumb, dumb penalty that gave them the momentum," Jutting said.

Davies banged home a loose puck from the left post then, 1:11 later, Drewiske buzzed a wrister past Zacharias from the right circle.

The conversion by Drewiske was his first in 27 games and was particularly sweet because it came on Senior Night. He was honored in a pregame ceremony along with left winger Josh Engel, right winger Matthew Ford and defenseman and assistant captain Kyle Klubertanz.

A major factor in both power-play conversions was sophomore left winger Blake Geoffrion, who endured all sorts of abuse to create traffic in front of Zacharias.

"We needed net front presence and Blake gave us that," Eaves said. "One (shot) hits him in the back and bounces over to a goal scorer and it's in the net. The other one the goalie never sees because of his net front presence."

"It's a dirty job to be sure, one that requires "a lot of toughness, obviously, and a lot of courage," Davies said. "That's Blake's game, though."

The effort by Geoffrion came on night after his younger brother Brice informed him he was playing "soft."

"I took that into account tonight," Blake said.

Was Brice right?

"Absolutely," Blake said.

The Badgers caught a break in the second minute when Mankato (16-11-4, 10-10-4 with 24 points in the WCHA) converted a defensive-zone turnover into a 2-on-1. But center Andrew Sackrison's wide-open shot from the slot hit the right post.

There are no guarantees UW will play at home again this season, but this win helped.

"It's just nice to be in your home building," Johnson said. "Hopefully we'll be back here."