After giving up two more third-period leads over the weekend against Minnesota State, University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves provided an answer for his team’s struggles when playing with the lead.

“I think the two things that were missing were timely goals and a timely save,” Eaves said at his Monday press conference. “If you analyze the whole weekend, those are the two things that were missing from our ingredients.”

A 4-3 overtime loss Friday coupled with Saturday’s 3-3 tie against the Mavericks were the two latest cases of the Badgers’ inability to win games in which they led in the third period. It appeared in Friday’s game, however, as if UW had scored that elusive timely goal in the third period when a puck bounced off forward Tom Gorowsky’s skate. But the goal was called back and the lead remained 3-2 in favor of Wisconsin.

“Friday night in Mankato, if they allow that goal, it’s 4-2 — game’s over,” Eaves said. “There’s our timely goal. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the timely save that we needed in those times, too. Again, without overanalyzing it, those two things probably come to the front of the list.”

Despite the way things have played out over the past two weekends for Wisconsin — getting swept at home by Denver and picking up just point on the road at the Alltel Center in Mankato — Eaves still feels his team is playing at the level they need to in order to get wins down the final stretch of the season.

“I would be more concerned in terms of getting our traction if we weren’t playing well,” Eaves said. “That would be a bigger hole we’d be in. But the fact is we are playing well. We’re out-hitting our opponents; we’re out-shooting them; we’re out-chancing them. We have to become better at closing the deal and getting that timely goal and getting that timely save.”

Davies steps up against Mavericks

While the Badgers never found a timely game-winning goal, forward Michael Davies’ pair of goals Saturday came at just the right moment. With UW trailing 2-0, Davies scored twice in the span of 3:13 to knot things up at 2-2 midway through the second period.

Davies was held out of six games earlier in the season by the coaching staff, who wanted to see better production from the junior. After Saturday’s game, Eaves saw the production he was looking for.

“You look at this weekend, in a tough environment, Michael produced,” Eaves said. “In leading up to those things that he did offensively, he was one of our hardest workers. … You could see that his confidence was there and he was doing all those little things that he wasn’t doing when he sat out those six games earlier in the year. He’s a more complete hockey player.”

Davies also netted a power play goal in Friday’s loss and now has 10 goals on the year, meaning he has scored double-digit goals in all three of his seasons at Wisconsin.

Senior Day coming for group of Badgers

This weekend’s home series against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux will be the last regular-season games for the seniors on this year’s Badger team. For senior Tom Gorowsky in particular, however, the journey to this point has been a road of highs and lows, culminating in his final year at Wisconsin.

As a freshman, Gorowsky played in just 18 games. His ice time increased as a sophomore, as he suited up for 33 games and scored 12 points. But in his junior season last year, he only saw action in 16 games, scoring two goals and two assists.

Now a senior, however, it’s been a different story for the Lino Lakes, Minn., native. Gorowsky has missed just four of UW’s 34 games and is third on the team in scoring with 25 points.

“If anybody was going to write a story about his college career, they should call it ‘Perseverance,'” Eaves said. “Tommy came in like all young athletes in college with high expectations. Things did not probably go the way he thought it might, but through his perseverance, my respect level for Tommy is as high as anybody I’ve met here at Wisconsin. … This year it’s come to fruition for him through his perseverance. For that, I really congratulate Tommy.”

Wisconsin fans will also be saying farewell to senior goaltender Shane Connelly, who, like Gorowsky, has seen his share of ups and downs as a Badger. Connelly was the backup to Brian Elliott for two seasons before moving into the starting role.

“He’s come into his spotlight as being a junior and a senior,” Eaves said. “He’s been in some big-time games. He’s provided us with some victories in big-time games, and that’s what we’re hoping that he can do as we go down the stretch here.”