Its forward lines changed during the conference tournament and until recently the goaltending situation was in constant flux, but one aspect of the Wisconsin men’s hockey team has been a symbol of stability throughout the season.

The defensive corps.

Ryan McDonagh and Jake Gardiner. Cody Goloubef and Justin Schultz. Brendan Smith and John Ramage.

Head coach Mike Eaves has utilized those same three defensive pairings from the early weeks of the season to the anxious days leading up the NCAA tournament, making life a little easier when setting the lineup.

“Well it’s very convenient,” Eaves said. “It’s one less thing that we have to look at game in and game out.”

For a team with so many strengths, the talent on the blue line has always stood out as the Badgers’ greatest asset.

Five of those six defenseman have been drafted in the top two rounds of the NHL Draft, making the UW defense one of the most talented groups in the country.

It is without a doubt one of the major reasons Wisconsin finished second in the WCHA and earned a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament this season.

But for most teams, postseason play tends to change the way the game is played. Pucks are constantly chipped out of the zone and things usually tighten up, especially when a mistake in a single elimination scenario can end your season.

A large burden falls on the defensemen, whose every actions are magnified when two evenly matched teams are looking for that difference-making goal.

No one needs to be told the magnitude of these tournament games, and no coach tries to make them more defensive than usual. That just happens naturally with so much at stake.

“You’re going to see games so close because there is so much pressure,” Smith said. “Things tend to get more conservative.”

So will the Badger defensemen, who have tallied 33 total goals on the year, look to play more conservatively in the NCAA tournament?

No. Don’t expect them to change a thing.

The UW defensemen have responsibilities that exist outside their own zone, and they are an essential part of the Badgers’ offensive attack. Smith is the nation’s highest scoring defenseman and a finalist for the Hobey Baker award, while McDonagh, Schultz, Goloubef and Ramage all possess double-digit assist totals.

Their positions label them as defense-first players and that remains their first priority. But make no mistake, the UW defensemen know what to do with the puck in the offensive zone.

“We can all skate and get pucks forward,” McDonagh said. “It’s definitely a strength of our team.”

Traditionally, scoring chances are at a premium come tournament time, and mistake-free hockey is expected, but UW isn’t about to alter what made them so successful throughout the regular season.

“In playoff hockey, you’re going to keep it simple when you have to,” assistant coach Mark Osiecki said. “That being said, we wont change our style. We’ll continue to get up the ice and look for offense from our defensemen because that is what has gotten us to this point. Our defensemen have been a secondary wave of offense all year long, and if we get away from that then that changes our whole style.”

And according to Goloubef, playing with a cautious mindset often times can work against you.

“You don’t want to go out there and just play safe,” Goloubef said. “We need to stick with what has been working for us all year.

“We can take our chances knowing our ‘D’ partner has our back.”

Wisconsin will enter the NCAAs with every intention of utilizing its defensemen as offensive options as the Badgers have all year long, but Osiecki believes the defensive corps’ greatest potential strength is its ability to take on different roles when necessary.

The offensive production from the defensemen has provided a huge boost and it has helped UW score early and often, but there are moments in games when they will have to do what their position suggests — protect a lead.

“With this group of six we have multiple options,” Osiecki said. “If we’re down by a goal and we need to put guys out there that are more offensive, we certainly have that. And on the flip side, if we’re up by a goal and we need to play it a little more conservative, we have the luxury of doing that as well.”

That versatility has been key to UW’s success throughout the regular season, and it could very well be the reason Wisconsin attains the postseason success they’ve been dreaming of.

“When we have a small lead you see McDonagh out there all the time,” Smith said. “He’s just so solid, a force to be reckoned with defensively. And when we are down they can throw Schultz and myself out there because we are a little more gifted offensively.

“Just the versatility we have is great and it’s helped us so much this year. Now hopefully it will help us in the tournament.”