AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts hockey team will try to extend one streak and end another when it begins a home-and-home series with UMass-Lowell tonight at the Mullins Center.

The teams will play Saturday at Tsongas Arena. Both games are at 7 p.m.

UMass is the only Division I team in the nation without a loss in its home arena and it's one of just two schools without a true road win.

"We need to address it. We can't make it a focus right now because we have a home game Friday night," Minuteman coach Toot Cahoon said. "But once the game ends on Friday night, the focus will be how do we perform well enough at Lowell to have the success that we need to have."

Senior captain T.J. Syner echoed his coach.

"Guys realize how big it is to win on the road," Syner said. "You can't just win at home and be a successful team."

The Minutemen have won three straight and are 5-1-2 since the start of December.

"Anytime you go on a run like that it builds confidence," freshman forward Steven Guzzo said. "Hopefully the momentum keeps going forward with us. This is a big weekend for us."

The weekend could have a considerable impact on the middle of the Hockey East standings. After Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Providence, the River Hawks (14-7-0, 9-6-0 Hockey East) head into the weekend in fifth place with 18 points. Before that loss, Lowell had won five of its last six games.

The River Hawks are two points back of fourth-place Maine (9-7-2 HE), which has played three more games than Lowell, and just one ahead of sixth-place Providence (8-7-1).

The Minutemen (9-8-5, 5-6-4) are four points back of Lowell. New Hampshire (6-9-1) is in eighth place with 13 points.

"The league is so tight right now, especially in the middle of the pack," Syner said. "Any team that gets going in the second half could make a big impact in the league, finish in the top four and get home-ice advantage."

NOTE - Several Minutemen have written "JABS" on items of their equipment to honor Minnesota high school player Jack Jablonski, who was paralyzed after a hit from behind in a game on Dec. 30. His injury has spurred an outpouring for support throughout the hockey community with players from every level of the game, including the Minutemen, sending well-wishing messages on Twitter with the hashtag #Jabs. UMass sophomore defenseman Anthony Raiola, who attended Minnetonka, a rival of Benilde-St. Margaret where Jablonski played, organized the effort.

"I felt like as a Minnesotan and as a hockey player I wanted to make the guys aware of what's going on," said Raiola, who has been tweeting to him from his @Razor5Guy handle. "We wanted to show him support from out here from some guys he doesn't even know."

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.