Coming into this season, the Wisconsin men's hockey team knew exactly what its strengths and weaknesses were. Their strengths include one of the best goaltenders in the country, Brian Elliott, who posted a save percentage of .938 and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which is given to the best player in the country.

Defensively, the Badgers returned six upperclassmen defenders compared to just one underclassman, freshman Jamie McBain. The six upperclassmen had a combined 482 career games under their belts at the start of this season.

The Badgers' biggest weakness is a glaring one, as they currently have no bona-fide goal scorers. Senior forward Ross Carlson came into the season with the team's most career goals, but has been out for much of the season with a lower-body injury.

Wisconsin lost an incredible amount of point production after last season, not to mention leadership and experience. Joe Pavelski scored 23 goals last season while Robbie Earl racked up 24 goals, and both left school early to go to the NHL.

This season the Badgers are relying on players like Carlson, captain Andrew Joudrey and senior Jake Dowell to step up their goal scoring.

However, so far this season, the Badgers as a whole have not stepped up like they need to, making the losses of Pavelski, Earl, Adam Burish and Tom Gilbert even more noticeable. In the 12 games played this season, the Badgers have managed to score just 24 goals, which is the second lowest total in the conference, despite playing the most games.

Injuries haven't helped the Badgers either. Both Carlson and sophomore forward Jack Skille went down in the second series of the season versus North Dakota. Carlson returned this past weekend against Denver and appeared to be playing well, while Skille is still sidelined with an elbow injury.

"I think (Carlson) did [look comfortable]," Mike Eaves said. "He gave us some energy, wish he could have given us some goals, but that will come … a lot of times you don't know what you're going to get when you first get back into a lineup. It takes a game or two to settle down. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good start for [Carlson]."

Despite the offensive firepower Carlson brings to the table, the Badgers' offense was once again stagnant, scoring just three goals against Denver in the two-game set.

"I think sometimes that we're in an offensive struggle to score some goals, timely goals," Eaves said. "The feeling is that we work and we work, and we're winning battles and we're not getting rewarded … how are we going to solve this riddle right now? We're going to solve this riddle by (having) everybody playing to their strengths, everybody doing their part, and not trying to do too much."

In game one, the Badgers failed to capitalize on a multitude of scoring opportunities, including a wrap-around attempt by Mike Davies that seemed to be a sure goal. With Denver goalie Glenn Fisher down and out of position, Davies had an open net — but a diving stop made by a Pioneer defenseman prevented the freshman from lighting the lamp.

In the second game of the series, the Badgers did capitalize on their opportunities and mustered three goals, including two third-period goals to tie the score at three. However, the comeback was not meant to be, as the Badgers lost in overtime with just 15 seconds remaining.

Eaves, who echoed the sentiments of his players, feels that the positives outweighed the negatives Saturday night.

"We don't have any 30-goal scorers and we're going to have a lot of games like this and we had better learn to deal with it," Eaves said. "The puck isn't going in for us very easily right now … but if we can create the kind of mentality, no matter what happens, that we're that mentally tough, then that's going to make us a better team."