Goals don’t come easily, but lately for the Illini hockey team they haven’t been coming at all.

Illinois (6-5-1) is on a six-game losing streak after starting the season with six consecutive wins.

The Illini’s hot start helped the team reach as high as fourth in the ACHA national rankings, but it has dropped in the rankings each week since and now sits at eighth. The team’s ranking is expected to drop even further following its two losses to No. 6 Robert Morris this weekend on home ice.

The team’s last six losses came against some of the nation’s best teams, including No. 2 Arizona State, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 6 Robert Morris. Robert Morris is expected to climb into the ACHA’s top five after a hot 8-0-1 start.

The Illini’s schedule isn’t getting easier, with 17 more games against ranked opponents left to play and two series against Indiana and Eastern Michigan, who have received votes to be ranked in the ACHA top-25 poll.

Monday’s practice was focused on the team’s offense and goal scoring, but head coach Nick Fabbrini said Tuesday’s practice will be centered around physicality in order to raise the players’ intensity.

“At some point we kind of have to look at ourselves and decide that maybe we have a competitiveness issue,” Fabbrini said. “We’re going to see who really wants to be in the lineup and make a difference here.”

Offensively, the Illini haven’t been producing anywhere near where Fabbrini had expected before the season began. The team scored just two goals in its last five games, getting shut out three times and outscored 25-2 by opponents.

The Illini outshot their opponents during their six-game winning streak to open the season, but haven’t won when being outshot by other teams — only managing to get 14 shots on the net in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to No. 6 Robert Morris.

While the team sets a goal to get at least 30 shots per game, it has barely been filling that quota during the six-game losing streak, with its most shots (28) coming in a 4-3 overtime loss to No. 5 Iowa State.

“We have get everything to the net and score some dirty, grimy goals,“ Fabbrini said. “When we’re struggling, we’ve got to really simplify things as much as possible and be hungry.”

Fabbrini said the Illini aim to allow their opponents no more than 20 shots per game, something the team has only done twice this season and hasn’t accomplished since its 4-3 overtime victory over Michigan State last month.

Senior goalkeeper Nick Clarke said he prefers facing more shots per game to keep him awake and aware, but it becomes an issue when the shots are coming from opportune places in front of the net.

“It’s a matter of quality shots,” Clarke said. “If there’s a lot of shots and they’re out on the perimeter, it’s not a problem. It’s the ones that are up close and point blank that are hard to stop.”

Clarke, a second-team All American last season, is posting just an 87.06 percent save percentage over a 2-5-1 record, statistics that are hard to keep up when the team allows opponents 43 shots per game as they did in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Robert Morris.

But Clarke said he’s more worried about the team’s wins and losses, not what his personal stat sheet reflects. The senior pointed to blocked shots, big hits and physical play as things that the team can use to spark its performance on the ice.

“Honestly, we could use anything right now to get us going,” Clarke said. “Maybe one of the guys could step up and score a goal, obviously. That would help out, too.”

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @Neumannthehuman.