It was pointed out to Bob Motzko that his team’s performance was better last weekend against Michigan State than it was two weeks prior against Michigan.

“Yep,” Motzko said on his Gophers Hockey Weekly show, “but the outcome (was the same). We’re in a tough spot.”

Minnesota has now lost seven straight games heading into its home weekend series against Wisconsin, which opens at 7 p.m. Friday. The six losses since the break have all come to teams currently ranked inside the top five in the nation.

“Five of the games, it’s been we make a mistake, it ends up in the back of our net, we’re chasing the game,” Motzko said on his coaches show. “And we’re fighting in there, we’re playing really good teams right now that we’re trying to catch, but we’re having to play catch up in the games.”

But the level of competition in those contests is of little solace for anyone inside the program, or out. Motzko credited the Gophers faithful with producing the best visiting crowd he’s seen at a Frozen Four three years ago in Tampa Bay. Those same ardent supporters are upset at this season’s lack of success.

“We’re fully aware of negativity, but as I reminded our guys and I reminded our staff, that’s what happens when you come to a program like this. When you’re going great, they’re great. When you’re going bad, they’re bad,” he said. “Do they have the right to be mad? Hell, yeah. We’re mad. But it’s senseless energy for our team right now.”

Motzko noted Minnesota (8-16-1 overall, 4-10 in Big Ten) isn’t the first sports team to go through struggles. It’s easy to play the blame game right now, but he’ll have none of it.

“We have to fight our way through it right now, and we can’t let negativity sneak into our group,” Motzko said. “Our guys have been terrific on that side of it. The fight continues. It will pass. It will pass. But we have to fight our way through it, and we have to go earn it.”

He likened it to a train fighting its way uphill at the moment. The challenge, he said, is to keep pushing forward until the train reaches the peak, and momentum can be gained on the downhill.

There are signs of progress, even amid the losses. Motzko noted a positive is Minnesota is getting young players more minutes than they’d otherwise see. That experience is producing flashes, and the hope is that more young players find the types of consistent success goalie Luca Di Pasquo is starting to achieve as he establishes himself as a No. 1 netminder.

With the Gophers now healthy after battling a series of injuries in the opening half of the campaign, Motzko is freed up to tinker and adjust in his efforts to concoct a winning formula. Brody Lamb moved to center last weekend, where Motzko believes he can utilize his size, skating and smarts. He’s lined up with Brodie Ziemer and LJ Mooney, a trio that’s carrying the Gophers’ power-play unit and looks to find more 5-on-5 success.

Motzko also is pushing for Minnesota’s forward to get more active on the forecheck, noting the Gophers “need to have a ground game.”

“We need to get pucks deep and we need to go to work,” he said on his coaches show. “Even this last weekend, we had far too many trying to score on the rush, score in transition when it’s not there. Because you’re playing teams now whose systems are locked in. … We need to have an attack with four lines putting pressure on the other team. We had far too many turnovers.”

Every adjustment is aimed at Minnesota playing its best hockey come March. That’s always the goal, but is especially pertinent given the Gophers’ current circumstance. Minnesota is currently No. 40 in the pairwise rankings, meaning its only path to NCAAs is winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

Achieving that goal starts by finding a groove now. With that in mind, Motzko’s full focus is on Wisconsin. The Badgers (15-7-2 overall, 8-6 in Big Ten) are having a nice season, but enter Friday as losers of four straight.

“It better be a weekend of two teams that are desperate, getting after it,” Motzko said. “You’re going to see good hockey, I know that.”

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