In the Michigan hockey team’s press conference following Saturday’s 4-2 win over Nebraska-Omaha, sophomore forward Louie Caporusso sat on the right of the table and senior goalie Billy Sauer on the left.

Caporusso, who is second in the country with 22 goals, posted three assists in the victory. Sauer, who set single-season program records for goals-against average and save percentage last year, stopped 28 of 30 shots Saturday.

But it was the freshman forward sitting between them — a one-time walk-on — who scored the final two goals in the Wolverines’ comeback win, including an empty netter, in the final five minutes of the game.

Meet Luke Glendening, the team's fourth-line right-winger.

Glendening’s first goal gave Michigan its first lead of the game with 4:28 remaining. And his second lamp-lighter of the game, his fifth of the year, put the Mavericks away with 35 seconds left on the clock. The win guaranteed the Wolverines a first-round bye in the CCHA Tournament and home-ice advantage in the quarterfinals.

“(Glendening) got out there on Louie’s line on a change, and that was a huge goal for us,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “It’s nice to see a kid like that — a kid that nobody knew much about coming in. And here he is, playing regular every night, and he’s making a difference on our team.”

Sure, they might have been “right-place, right-time” goals. But Glendening's performance was just the tip of the iceberg.

Junior Brian Lebler, who had just three total goals last season, has scored in three consecutive games.

And sophomore forward Ben Winnett, who was a healthy scratch against both Notre Dame and Michigan State a few weeks ago, scored a shorthanded goal Friday to extend Michigan’s lead.

Overall, nine different Wolverines scored in Michigan’s season-high 12-goal weekend.

“It’s just nice to know that you got a bunch of guys on the team that, when it’s crunch time, anybody can pick it up,” Lebler said.

And that depth is particularly reassuring for the Wolverines as they come down the stretch. At this point last season, Michigan's eventual Frozen Four-bound team had six double-digit scorers, including two who combined for 49 goals.

This year, the Wolverines have just four, with one over 20. And the difference between the two seasons in offensive output thus far is just nine goals through 32 games.

What do all those numbers mean? Michigan is getting consistent scoring from each of its lines. When Caporusso doesn’t find the back of the net, Glendening can step up and score one — or two.

“This is team time of the year, and it doesn’t matter that your leading scorers are the goal getters,” Berenson said. “It doesn’t matter who scores, you just need goals.”

This mentality has translated into a 10-2 second-half run and catapulted the Wolverines from a middle-of-the-pack CCHA team to tied for second in the PairWise ratings. The ratings are used in determining NCAA Tournament seeding.

More importantly, Michigan overtook Notre Dame in the PairWise this weekend. That means the Wolverines would get the edge over the Fighting Irish as the No. 1 seed in the Grand Rapids Regional, by far the closest location to Ann Arbor.

And it’s all because of one of Michigan’s strongest assets: its depth.

—Eisenstein can be reached at mseisen@umich.edu.