Top-ranked Denver had the perfect answer to No. 4 Notre Dame’s late surge on Saturday night, and as a result the Pioneers emerged with three of four points on the weekend after 4-2 victory at South Bend, Ind.

Sophomore Liam Finlay scored the deciding goal just 24 seconds after the Irish had tallied two goals in 24 seconds with less than 5 minutes remaining in a game in which Friday’s star for DU, sophomore Henrik Borgstrom, missed due to an illness. Finlay fired a wrist shot past Colorado native Cale Morris (30 saves) after finding some open real estate.

“Once it went 2-2, that’s a big-time (goal) and then they really didn’t get anything after that,” DU coach Jim Montgomery told the school’s official web site.

First-period strikes by junior Troy Terry (10:10 in) and freshman Jake Durflinger had staked the Pioneers (1-0-1) to a 2-0 lead with 1:39 to play in the first period. Durflinger scored off a pass to the front of the net from Logan O’Connor (two assists) who had tracked the puck down near the  boards.

The 2-0 margin held up until Colorado Avalanche draft pick Cam Morrison and Jordan Gross struck in rapid succession to even it up with 4:52 to play.

Finlay’s tally came after a feed from Tyson McLellan. Junior Dylan Gambrell, who had the secondary assist on Finlay’s goal, iced the game with an empty-net tally with 1:20 left.

“The execution of … Terry and Gambrell were fantastic tonight, and they executed along with our best defensive forward in Logan O’Connor on the empty-net situation,” Montgomery added.

Tanner Jaillet made 31 saves for DU, which outshot Notre Dame 34-33 one night after a 48-29 margin in the series – and season – opener.

“Tanner was fantastic,” Montgomery said. “We generated a lot of scoring chances, did a lot of good stuff in the offensive zone, our puck protection was better and we got inside the middle ice.”

Scoresheet debuts

Not only did Durflinger get his first NCAA goal, but fellow freshman Jack Doremus, inserted into the lineup with Borgstrom out, picked up his first point in his NCAA debut with an assist on Durflinger’s goal.

DU’s three stars

1. Tanner Jaillet. Twenty-four of his 31 saves came in the final two periods.
2. Logan O’Connor. A demon on defense, his hustle led directly to DU’s second and fourth goals.
3. Dylan Gambrell. Strong all game, he came alive when things tightened up, picking up an assist and a goal.

Next up

The Pioneers open their home schedule Friday against Lake Superior State, which lost to and tied Michigan Tech and former DU goalie Packy Munson over the weekend. DU will raise its eighth national championship banner during a pregame ceremony.