PROVIDENCE — As the plot thickens for the postseason and teams make their penultimate push for playoff position, defending national champion Providence completed a weekend sweep of Notre Dame on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory before 3,232 at Schneider Arena.

No. 5 Providence (23-5-4, 14-3-3 Hockey East) moves into second place in the conference, behind Boston College, and ensures itself a first-round bye in the conference playoffs. No. 7 Notre Dame (18-7-7, 14-4-2) is third. There is one more weekend in the regular season, with the Friars traveling to UMass for two games and Notre Dame hosting Boston University for a pair.

Providence clutched a 2-1 lead to start the third period but faced a flood of Notre Dame attackers. Friars goalie Nick Ellis (34 saves) was called on often and stood up to relentless pressure from Notre Dame, which outshot Providence, 18-8, in the period.

“They had a good push,’’ said Providence coach Nate Leaman. “We were fortunate to score first and I think that really helped us. I wasn’t in love with how we played defensively all weekend, but Nick was there to bail us out, especially tonight.’’

Kevin Rooney sealed the victory with a goal at 15:52 of the third to give the Friars a two-goal margin. With his back to the net and a pair of Irish defenders screening their goalie, Rooney slipped in a backhand to make it 3-1.

Most of the third-period offense came from the sticks of the Irish as the Friars sputtered.

“They did a terrific job of shutting down the walls,’’ said Leaman. “We couldn’t get out of our zone clean and build any speed. So a lot of times getting out of our zone they were just chips and they were pushing it right back down.

“If you can’t get out of your zone clean, it’s hard to do anything in this game.’’

Leaman said he thought his team was tired after Friday’s overtime thriller, but so was Notre Dame.

“You’ve got to give them credit,’’ Leaman said. “It wasn’t as much what we were doing as what their push was. I mean that was a desperate hockey team in the third.’’

The Hockey East rivals started the game at the same fast pace as Friday’s game and the rematch was another tight struggle between evenly matched teams. Providence opened the scoring when Trevor Mingoia’s pass caught Erik Foley in stride at the blue line. Foley went straight down the chute for a quick shot that beat Cal Petersen at 7:45 of the first period. It was the sixth goal of the season for the freshman from Mansfield.

“I think our guys answered the bell even though we didn’t win,’’ said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson. “I thought they competed better [than Friday]. Just a couple of breaks and we might have scored a couple more goals. There were pucks there laying for us and we didn’t put them in.’’

Providence went up by a pair after Brandon Tanev scored a power-play goal at 9:13 of the second. Tanev, showing off his speed throughout the first two periods, was rewarded for his energetic play (“he comes over the boards at 100 miles an hour,’’ said Leaman, “there’s not another gear in his game’’) when he got the puck from Josh Monk for a quick shot from the right circle. The puck skimmed along the ice and slipped between Petersen’s pads. It was Tanev’s 13th goal of the season.

Notre Dame, hard-charging in the second period, closed the gap to one at 15:48. Ellis had just stood up to Thomas DiPauli’s dead-on shot from no more than 10 feet when Steven Fogarty, shooting from the left side, slipped one between Ellis’s arm and the left post. After two periods, Providence had a 23-17 shot advantage but clung to a one-goal lead.

Notre Dame was tougher still in the third, testing Ellis repeatedly, including another DiPauli point-blank shot that Ellis saved with his left pad. But the goalie was too good.

“I think tonight was a good step for us, playing on the road against a really tough, gritty team,’’ Jackson said. “We did pretty well, we just needed to finish.’’