The University of Denver hockey team travels to play Minnesota-Duluth this Friday and Saturday in a key early-season NCHC series. Here is a closer look at the Bulldogs.

Overview: The Bulldogs come into the series reeling a bit, having lost three in a row and owning just one victory in their past six games. Their 3-4-2 mark comes as a surprise given coaches’ and media projections that the speedy, veteran Bulldogs would be an NCHC front-runner. UMD had nine seniors and seven juniors on its roster.

Last weekend: UMD opened NCHC play at Omaha and was swept by identical 4-2 scores. Generating shots was not a problem, as the Bulldogs had 47 on Friday and another 37 on Saturday, but cashing them in was. Four players had one goal apiece – senior wing Austin Farley and junior win Kyle Osterberg scored on the power play Friday, and junior center Dominic Toninato and junior defenseman Willie Raskob struck Saturday. Raskob’s came during a four-on-four in the final minute. … Sophomore goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo had an uncharacteristically shaky weekend, allowing seven goals on 48 shots (.854 save percentage). Omaha added an empty-netter. That is far below his season average of .908. He allows 2.38 goals-per-game and has started every game so far.

How they lost: On Friday, early and late-period goals hurt the Bulldogs, who found themselves playing behind all game. That is the same malady that plagued DU earlier in the season at Air Force and in Boston. On Saturday, it was a 1-1 game from midway through the first period on, but Omaha struck for three goals in the final seven minutes to pull away before Raskob’s late marker.

Scoring touch: Much like DU, the Bulldogs rely on balanced scoring. A vast majority of it (eight of the top 10 scorers, including the top seven) comes from forwards, topped by senior center Tony Cameranesi with eight points (two goals, six assists) and Farley (4/2) and Osterberg (2/4) with six apiece. Senior Andy Welinski and freshman Neal Plonk add scoring from the blue line and have four points apiece.

@MagnessMayhem