When one part of Matt Rust's game isn't working, he focuses on a part that is.

It's a simple psychological ploy, but over the past few weeks, it's about all the senior forward with the Michigan hockey team has had to lean on.

It isn't enough that Rust hasn't scored as much as he expects. But add to the equation his defensive struggles and matters get worse. Compound that with the fact that Rust's plus-minus rating is at 0 and everything that could go wrong this season for Rust has.

Heading into this weekend's home series with Lake Superior State (7:35 p.m. Friday and Saturday) Rust has three goals and has struggled to keep from being bogged down by his struggles.

"He works hard every night, but he's also worked with a cloud of frustration around his game or his overall performance or his statistics," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "I don't measure him by his statistics, but you're playing on a line where you want to be productive."

After notching goals in Michigan's first two games, Rust went nine games without scoring. Other aspects of his game began to break down as well. He wasn't as effective defensively as he expects himself to be and didn't live up to his expectations as a penalty-killer.

It wasn't long before his plus-minus rating dropped into negative territory.

"It's definitely been a burden on my shoulders," Rust said this week. "As much as you don't want to admit that, it's something that's on your mind when you're not scoring when you're getting chances and you're just not putting the puck in the net.

"When both the offensive and defensive parts of your game aren't going the way you want, it's tough."

Berenson said when players are in slump, they tend to worry about the wrong things instead of using hard work to correct the problem.

Rust equated his attempt to work though his on-ice issues to attempting to play through an injury. There were good days and bad, leaving him no other choice but to dwell on getting better.

Rust's work ethic was never in question. That left him to turn to the one aspect of his game that had remained on par. All season, Rust has won the majority of his face-off opportunities, giving him one positive to build on.

He kept working defensively and returning to a line with Carl Hagelin boosted his confidence offensively. Rust saw scoring drought end with a goal last Saturday, beginning a second-period surge when the Wolverines scored three times in a 5-3 win over Notre Dame.

"I knew I would eventually come out of it, but it was a tough couple of weeks," Rust said.

And after struggling for so long, Rust's renewed confidence comes at a good time. The Wolverines (6-3-3, 5-2-1) haven't jelled as much as Berenson would have liked after 12 games.

Michigan has split its last four series and hasn't won a Friday night series opener since Oct. 8. Berenson said he can't put his finger on one thing that has gone wrong on Fridays. But he knows if the Wolverines - currently 10th in the national polls - are to turn things around, they have to build some consistency.

The Wolverines have allowed golden scoring chances to slip away. They give up more shots than Berenson would like. At times, the goal-keeping hasn't been solid enough to make up for lapses in defense.

"I thought we would be better team right from the start than we've been," Berenson said. "We don't have a lot of air in our tires right now. We don't have enough air in our tires.

"But we're still growing and we're still learning what kind of team we are and what kind of team we can be."

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.