He didn't start the week in the Badgers' lineup after missing the last six games as a healthy scratch.

Changes in both areas paid off for Wisconsin on Saturday. Davies scored a power-play goal to break a scoreless tie in the third period, and Shane Connelly earned his second shutout in three games in a 3-0 victory over No. 14 Michigan at the Kohl Center.

Davies could be considered a power-play specialist — 14 of his 26 collegiate goals have come in that category — but the UW coaches want him to be more than that if they're going to use one of their 12 forward spots in the lineup on him.

The fine line they're walking with Davies is that he can produce goals, so his value can be tremendous. At the same time, they can't afford a liability in the defensive zone.

"We just don't want him to be a power play guy," UW coach Mike Eaves said. "We know that's his strength. We need him to be more for his team than just that. And hopefully this process that he's gone through, he's learned that."

Doing enough in practice to get back in the lineup gave Davies the chance to contribute to the power play again, and he took advantage on Saturday.

When the Badgers power play wasn't able to generate many scoring chances early, the UW coaching staff shuffled personnel, adding Davies to the top unit in place of Derek Stepan.

Less than three minutes into the third period, the junior winger set up Brendan Smith for a shot that Michigan goaltender Billy Sauer stopped. But the rebound came back out to Davies for a quick putaway and a 1-0 lead.

No one's suggesting that Davies' issues are behind him, but Eaves has pointed out that he has made strides.

"I just kept working hard in practice. That's really all I could do," Davies said. "I'm definitely getting better 5-on-5 in practice. It helped tonight, even this weekend. I thought I did a lot better this weekend and we were generating a lot of chances."

For the first time in six tries, the Badgers swept the College Hockey Showcase in front of their home fans. They did it using the team's first shutout of Michigan in almost 21 years.

Since allowing six goals at St. Cloud State last Friday, Connelly has stopped 56 of the 57 shots he has faced in the last three games.

By stopping all 19 shots he faced Saturday, he became the first UW goaltender to blank the Wolverines since Dean Anderson did on Dec. 29, 1987, a 6-0 victory at the Great Lakes Invitational.

Connelly said he has been playing better positionally recently, but that didn't even scratch the surface of explaining his last three games.

"At the same time, the team's playing much better," Connelly said. "We're much more consistent. You can see the confidence growing back, especially with the defensemen. They know where to go. They know I'm going to make that first save and they're going to clear out. It looks good on me with the stats, but I've got to give it all to my teammates."