Through the first two months of the Michigan hockey team’s season, neither players nor coaches have been candid about the Wolverines’ inconsistent weekend performances — the team is 1-3-1 on Friday and 5-0-2 on Saturday.

But following Michigan’s 5-3 victory against Notre Dame this past Saturday, senior forward Matt Rust dropped some words of wisdom that made ears in the press conference perk up a little bit.

“We’re trying to do all the right things on Friday,” Rust said. “We’re trying to come out strong … I think we don’t have that pissed-off attitude that you need to win the game on Friday night. On Saturday, after losing, I think we finally get that edge, but on Friday we need to find a way to get that.”

Rust spoke of the tight league this season, as the top four teams are separated by just three points. And while conference play is less than 10 games into the season for any team, Rust knows that this current crop of Wolverines (5-2-1-0 CCHA, 6-3-3 overall) will have to work out of their Friday-night funk if they want to secure a CCHA regular-season title — their last one was during the 2007-08 campaign.

Prior to Rust’s outspoken response, Michigan coach Red Berenson said that his current team isn't the "offensive juggernaut we were once."

“We’re battling, and that’s what you have to do in this league,” Berenson said. “You have to battle every night. I don’t think we’re better than anyone else. We might have a little more experience because of our seniors. As for our skill level, I don’t see us being any better than Notre Dame or certainly not Miami (Ohio).”

Those may be surprising words to some, considering the Wolverines' roster boasts 13 NHL draftees — scouts have deemed nearly half of Michigan's players worthy of possibly playing at the next level. Despite Berenson’s comments, the long-tenured coach has a realistic outlook for his team, and the different mindset may be just what Michigan (5-2-1-0 CCHA, 6-3-3 overall) needs to reverse its weekend dilemma.

“We’ve got to be a blue-collar, lunch-bucket hockey team,” Berenson said. “We've got to kick 'em in, deflect 'em in, bounce 'em in.”

LINE CHANGE: Berenson was looking for some “life” and he was rewarded.

Through the Wolverines’ first six conference games, Berenson said he wasn’t too pleased with his team’s offensive production, with there being “limited scoring balance” across the four sets of lines.

But after switching Rust to a line with forwards Carl Hagelin and Kevin Lynch for Saturday’s contest against the Fighting Irish (5-2-1-1, 7-3-1), the trio produced, netting four points collectively in the series’ second game.

Hagelin tallied a goal and an assist, while Rust netted his third goal of the season — his first since Oct. 8. The pair grabbed first-star and third-star honors, respectively, for their performances on Saturday.

Rust said that he'd been “fighting” pretty much his whole game the last few weeks, and with a relieved look on his face following his equalizer, one could certainly say he was long overdue for a lamplighter.

“I’ve been playing pretty garbage this season,” Rust said on Saturday. “Hopefully, I can carry this confidence into practice next week and keep producing.”

NOTES: Senior goaltender Bryan Hogan secured his 50th career win as a Wolverine on Saturday night. ... He had 34 saves to boost his record to 5-1-0 on the year.