Kevin Lynch still can’t get the ringing noise out of his head.

On Friday night against Ohio State, the freshman forward picked up the puck at the top of the left circle and let go of a wrist shot that beat the goalie — and clanged off the left post. Against Minnesota two weeks earlier, just five minutes into the game, he beat a defenseman but made the right post sing.

Whether he's hitting the post, getting robbed by the goalie or over-skating the puck on what would have been a sure breakaway on an empty net — like he did with a minute left on Saturday night — Lynch just can’t find that elusive first career goal.

“I’m getting chances, so I’m not really worried about it,” Lynch said. “I just need to bear down and once I get that first one, it will come in bunches.”

Lynch’s struggles represent a departure from his two previous seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 team, where he averaged a goal every three games and a point every one-and-a-half games. His performance enticed the Columbus Blue Jackets to pick him in the second round of the 2009 NHL Draft.

Along with A.J. Treais and first-year sensation Chris Brown, Lynch was expected to contribute right away up front. But 16 games into this season, Lynch has recorded just one point, an assist in a 5-1 blowout of Lake Superior State in late October. While the lack of production is surprising, Michigan coach Red Berenson isn't concerned.

"I think he's doing well, but it's hard for a player to think that," Berenson said. "You wouldn’t want to measure him with his goals or his points. He’s working hard, he’s playing physical, he’s responsible defensively. He’s been good with the puck and he’s created some good scoring chances for himself and his linemates and that’s all he can do.”

As the Wolverines approach the halfway point of the season, in order to pull themselves out of 10th place in the conference, they will need more secondary scoring to complement the line consisting of Brown and juniors Carl Hagelin and Matt Rust. But they can't sacrifice their defensive play in order to score.

If Lynch can lose his affinity for hitting two-inch posts, he may be the one who can find a balance between offense and defense. With Berenson giving Lynch an opportunity on the power play this weekend, he could jumpstart the offensive power that he showed in his prep days.

As far as the slow start is concerned, it shouldn’t affect him too much. It has happened before.

“I just come out in practice and work hard and I know that last year, I had a successful year,” Lynch said. “I’ve started off slow pretty much every year, so I’m not really worried about it too much at this point.”

If he adjusts his sights to find the back of the net at Yost Ice Arena on Friday, during the first game of the Michigan-Notre Dame home-and-home series, the only sound in his head will be the roar of the crowd’s appreciation after the goal.