Senior Evan Janssen is scoring at a career-best clip while remaining one of the Pioneers’ best defensive forwards. Photo courtesy of Shannon Valerio, DU Athletics

The numbers don’t lie, No. 2 Denver is on a roll, especially when the opponent is their rival south down I-25. The Pioneers defeated Colorado College for the 11th and 12th consecutive times over the weekend, and in the process won 20 games for the 16th consecutive season. They also put themselves in the driver’s seat for winning the NCHC’s regular-season title (the Penrose Cup) for the first time, and they’re right near the top of the all-important PairWise Rankings.

How did they do that? By winning two very different types of games against the Tigers – 2-1 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday.

Here are some weekend pluses and minuses as well as three stars:

Plus

The Pioneers’ second sweep in a row gives them five NCHC wins in a row and six of seven. The recent surge by Providence also makes the one-point weekend in Rhode Island to start the second half seem a bit less dubious.

Minus

Friday is just not an easy night for whatever reason for DU. In the second half it’s been tie (Providence), win (Arizona State), loss (Western Michigan), OT loss (St. Cloud State), and two narrow wins at home (Omaha, 5-3 and CC 2-1). Saturdays are another matter – since a 3-1 loss at Providence it’s been five wins in a row, all of them fairly to very convincing.

Plus

The balancing act continues, and I mean that in a good way. Seven goals on the weekend and seven different goal scorers. Last weekend it was 10 goals from nine different goal scorers. That is recipe for success.

Minus

There were times Friday when the Pioneers had some excellent opportunities, particularly when their defense jumped into the play, and they didn’t bury them. It’s a bit of splitting hairs when you consider they still got a goal each night from their D.

Plus

Speaking of defense, it and goalie Tanner Jaillet have continued to be very good. Consider this: DU has allowed just 21 goals in the second half over a span of 12 games, or 1.75 per game. They’ve given up more than three goals exactly once in 30 games.

Minus

There is no down side to that.

Three stars

1. Jaillet. Two games. Two goals. He is scaling the NCAA leaderboards.
2. Adam Plant. His defense partner, Will Butcher, generates much more attention but Butcher told me after Friday’s game that Plant is the Pioneers’ unsung hero. Night after night he sacrifices offense, as well as body parts, for the good of the team. DU allowed just 38 shots all weekend and the defense again was a big reason why.
3. Evan Janssen. He kills penalties, he shadows opponents’ top guns, has great hair, and, it turns out, he provides a lot of secondary scoring. He buried his career-high seventh goal (he had seven total in his career before this season) on Saturday and his 16 points in 28 games this season are as many as he had in his prior 68 games over the previous two campaigns.