Sophomore Colin Staub scored the final goal for Denver in Saturday night’s 5-1 victory against Colorado College. Photo courtesy of Shannon Valerio, DU Athletics

Add it up, and it was quite a night for No. 2 Denver.

Not only did the Pioneers defeat Colorado College, 5-1, Saturday but the victory was their 12th in a row over their neighbors to the south.

The triumph also gave them a 20-win season for the 16th year in a row – the longest active NCAA streak. and it bumped them ahead of No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth for first place in the NCHC with six games to play. The Pioneers have never won the Penrose Cup, awarded to the NCHC’s regular-season champion, but it’s on their radar, coach Jim Montgomery said.

“Winning twenty games in college hockey isn’t easy and reaching that total that for sixteen straight years is a great accomplishment for our program,” he said following Saturday’s win. “It’s obviously great to be back in first place as well. We now control our own destiny in our pursuit of the Penrose Cup, which we’ve never won. It’s definitely a trophy our student-athletes, especially the seniors, really want to hoist at the end of the regular season.”

“Any time you can win a championship of any kind it better prepares you to compete for a national title – which is ultimately our goal for this season.”

DU (20-6-4, 12-3-3-2 NCHC) is making a strong case it will make a return to the Frozen Four. It sits second in the PairWise Rankings and, barring a late-season implosion, should be a lock to be a top seed in an NCAA Tournament regional.

Then there is the matter of not losing a game in three seasons to its most hated rival.

Five players scored goals and Tanner Jaillet made 22 saves as Denver amassed a huge shots edge for the second night in a row against the Tigers. Saturday’s count was 43-23, a night after a 39-15 edge.

Michael Davies got DU on the board when he finished a tic-tac-toe play with senior Evan Janssen and Liam Finlay on the back door of CC’s Alex Leclerc. Fellow freshman Tyson McLellan made it 2-0 with just over a minute left in the first period, a theme that would continue.

Janssen made it 3-0 after Dylan Gambrell found him alone in the slot for a one-timer 6:14 into the second.

CC came to life after Mason Bergh‘s power-play goal 10 minutes later and launched an assault in the DU zone until another freshman, Henrik Borgstrom gathered the puck near the DU line and skated through three CC defenders before beating Leclerc to make it 4-1 with 46 seconds to go in the period.

“You can’t teach skill and teach players that can undress other players one on one,” Montgomery said. “I thought he was going to get caught by all three, and then he just lowered like a Ferrari and what a finish.”

Colorado Springs native Colin Staub added another late-period goal, this time in the third for the final margin.

Notable

Borgstrom’s goal was his team-high 15th and helped him regain the team scoring lead (27 points) from defenseman Will Butcher. Gambrell also has 26 points. … Finlay’s two assists gave him eight of his 10 points in the past six games. … Janssen extended his career bests in points (16) and goals (7). He had seven career goals entering the season.