BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University will play a key Western Collegiate Hockey Association series this Friday and Saturday when the Falcons face Minnesota State at the Verizon Center in Mankato, Minn.

Both contests between the Falcons and the No. 5 Mavericks will face off at 8:07 p.m. local time.

This contest will feature the top two teams in the WCHA standings as Minnesota State (8-3 overall) has 18 points in eight games thanks to a 6-2-0 league record; the Falcons (5-3-3) are second with 17 points thanks to a 4-1-3-2 league mark.

Here’s a closer look at Bowling Green hockey heading into this weekend.

A LOOK BACK: The Falcons are coming off a five-point weekend at home against Lake Superior State. BG skated to a 2-2 tie on Friday night, claiming the extra point with a shootout win thanks to a Mitch McLain goal. On Saturday the Falcons earned a 5-2 victory as Stephen Baylis had two goals and two assists.

After reviewing the weekend, Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron said his team could have played better Friday, then rose to the occasion as Saturday’s game wore on.

“We had a difficult night Friday, after grading the tape,” he said. “On Saturday our process was much, much better. 

“It was an OK night Friday and a pretty good night Saturday. But that was as the game went on and became more ‘contested’ or heated, I thought we became more engaged.”

Bergeron said it took the second short-handed goal of the night to help his team find a higher gear.

“When [the Lakers] scored their first goal to tie the game at 1-1, I thought the body language on our bench and overall vibe was pretty poor,” he said. “But when Mitch [McLain] scored the second shorthanded goal, I thought it was a whole new vibe, a whole new feeling.”

But Bergeron said he did feel his team is riding an emotional roller-coaster.

“That’s always a concern,” he admitted. “But I don’t think we got too high or too low. 

“I didn’t feel a huge swing. But I didn’t feel a good vibe from the beginning Saturday. Stephen’s first goal got the building excited, but it didn’t lift our team up to the level of engagement that I was hoping we would have that night.”

A LOOK AHEAD: The Falcons opened WCHA play by hosting Minnesota State at the Slater Family Ice Arena on Oct. 20-21. The Mavericks won the Friday contest 4-1, but BG took Saturday’s game by a 5-2 score.

Bergeron explained that playing these two series so closely together was a mutual decision of the two schools.

“The Minnesota State series that was here was supposed to be on the second half of the schedule,” he said. “But both schools needed to make a change from a non-conference schedule [standpoint].”

As you might expect for a team atop the WCHA standings, the Mavericks have some of the best statistics in the league. Minnesota State leads the league by scoring 3.64 goals per game and is third in scoring defense, allowing just 2.64 goals per contest.

MSU’s special teams also are strong: the Mavericks’ power play scores on 22.9 percent of its opportunities, while the penalty-killing unit has successfully killed off 84.9 percent of opponent’s power players.

Individually, senior C.J. Suess is tied for the WCHA lead with 15 points (four goals and 11 assists) in 11 games, while fellow senior Zeb Knutson is third with 14 points (3-12) and sophomore Marc Michaelis is tied for fourth with 12 (7-5).

On the blueline, Minnesota State junior Daniel Brickley leads all WCHA defensemen with 10 points (3-7). In goal, senior Connor LaCouvee has a 2.03 goals-against average, while junior Jason Pawloski has a 2.74 mark.

“They are the measuring stick in this league,” Bergeron said of the Mavericks. ““They’re veteran, they’re skilled and they’re confident – and they’re deep.”

While Minnesota State holds a 10-5-3 advantage in the all-time series, the recent games have been extremely close as the teams have a 4-4-2 record in their last 10 meetings.

Bergeron said having played the Mavericks a month ago means the Falcons know how talented their opponent is.

“The advantage goes both ways,” Bergeron said. “There’s no unknown. We can refer back to our games against them, as opposed to their tape against another team.”

A LOOK INSIDE: The BG coaching staff shuffled the team’s lines from Friday to Saturday.

Bergeron explained that when he and his assistant coaches work on piecing together lines, they start by pairing certain forwards.

“We look for chemistry and go from there,” he said. “We ask, ‘At their best, do players complement one another?’

“We don’t know how they’ll play, but we think about if the best version of each player complements one another.”

One example is the pairing of fellow seniors Tyler Spezia and Mitch McLain.

“We think some chemistry has developed between Tyler and Mitch,” he said. “But we don’t have Spezia, so we’re looking for someone who plays the game like Spezia. Could John Schilling be that for McLain?

“Also Brett D’Andrea and Stephen Baylis have played a lot of hockey together, so it becomes a matter of finding another winger to work with them.”

Bergeron said there are different reasons for shuffling lines, both within a game and before a game.

“Sometimes you try to shake it up if things look stale,” Bergeron said. “You mix things up just to change it up. You change just for change’s sake.

“And both nights this past weekend we shortened the bench; on Friday we shortened the bench because we had some penalty problems and wanted to hold some guys accountable.”

Contact John Wagner at jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481, or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.

First Published November 17, 2017, 3:00 p.m.