Hard to imagine a power play giving the other team momentum, but that’s exactly what happened in the second period when DU didn’t manage a shot on its first man advantage.

Up 2-0 at that point, the Pioneers gave up five consecutive goals in losing to St. Cloud State on Friday night at Magness Arena. The loss, DU’s third in a row, dropped the Pioneers to 7-6-2 overall and 3-3-1 in the NCHC.

“As soon as the power play didn’t work it changed the complexion of the game,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said.

Until that point the Pioneers had played some of their best hockey of the season, getting a first-period tally from Dylan Gambrell and a second-period strike from Troy Terry.

“It felt great, we had all kinds of confidence,” Montgomery said.

The floodgates opened for SCSU when Blake Winiecki scored on a power play 6:50 into the second. From there, the Huskies dominated on face-offs, possession, shots and, ultimately, goals.

“The power play gave them all kinds of momentum,” Montgomery said. “They had two guys on the puck quicker than us.”

St. Cloud evened it with 2:37 to play in the second and then finished off DU with a three-goal explosion in a 1:33 stretch late in the third.

Tanner Jaillet, who got the start Friday because of his previous success against St. Cloud and his recent body of work, was not at fault, Montgomery said.

“If you have breakdowns in your D zone, they expose you,” the coach said.

Now the Pioneers head into Saturday’s rematch badly in need of win.

“It’s very important for the team’s psyche,” Montgomery said. “We need the upperclassmen to lead and it’s not happening now.”

 

Hop to it: DU showed plenty of hop in the first period, and perhaps no one showed more than Gambrell, who scored the game’s first goal.

While his hockey smarts and skill have been obvious all season, his skating was more noticeable Friday. He clearly has good chemistry playing with Trevor Moore and Danton Heinen, and the trio created some chances early on.

Moore picked up the second assist on Gambrell’s rebound goal, giving him points in all nine career games vs. St. Cloud State.

St. Cloud took control of the game in the second period, outshooting DU 15-6 and dominating the face-off circle 14-7 en route to tying the score at 2.

The contrast could not have been more obvious than on the power play, of which each team had one. DU could not get a shot on goal on its PP, while the Huskies controlled the puck and ultimately scored on their chance.

“Our special teams let us down tonight,” Montgomery said.

The Huskies finished with 33 shots, 29 in the final two periods, while the Pioneers totaled 19, just 11 after the first period.

By the numbers: Let’s take a closer look at how DU stacks up on offense and defense in NCHC play entering tonight’s game vs. St. Cloud State at Mayhem Central.

The Pioneers’ offense is the second weakest, averaging just 2.2 goals-per-game. The school that shall not be named south on I-25 is in last, with just  1.4 gpg.

The saving grace for DU has been its defense, which is allowing just 2.33 gpg, second best to Minnesota-Duluth’s 1.75.

Overall, the Pioneers are scoring at a 3.07 gpg clip while allowing 2.57.

Roar of the crowd: After playing nine of their past 10 games on the road (and all of them since Nov. 6), the Pioneers returned to Magness for the weekend. Overall, DU has eight of its next 10 games at home.

@MagnessMayhem