The sun will come out again. It might not seem like it for Denver hockey fans after the Pioneers were swept in their NCHC-opening series at Western Michigan, but I’m confident it will.

This week’s look back is going to drill down on the numbers a bit more.

The good news

Goal scoring has at times been an issue during first quarters for the Pioneers under coach Jim Montgomery. That wasn’t the case this weekend, and it hasn’t been most weekends thus far. DU’s nine goals were their second most in their first four weekends. In order they’ve gone for 6, 8, 10 and 9.

The scoring is coming from everywhere as well. Eleven players had points, and five scored goals. The ringleaders were Troy Terry (six points, five assists) and Henrik Borgstrom (five points, four goals). So it should surprise no one that Terry is No. 2 in the nation in scoring (16 points) and Borgstrom is first in goals (9) and tied for sixth in points (13). Dylan Gambrell, who had a goal and assist Saturday has 12 points. Borgstrom is burying an unreal 28 percent of his shots on goal, so he’s either that much better than everyone and will have a 40-goal season or his goal-scoring will level off at some point but probably not by much given the situations he plays in and his power-play minutes (four of his goals have come there.)

Junior forward Jarid Lukosevicius quietly had a three-point weekend, including his first goal, and freshman Jaakko Heikkinen scored in each game and now has three goals. Defensemen Ian Mitchell and Michael Davies each had an assist in each game. Luko is at the opposite end of the continuum of Borgstrom and Heikkinen (30 percent), depositing just 4 percent of his shots behind the goalie. One of the best shooters on the team, it’s a safe bet he’ll score much more as the season progresses.

Net numbers

Allowing 13 goals in two games, unranked team or not, road or not, is extremely un-DU-like. In fact, Tanner Jaillet‘s six goals against on Saturday stands as a career worst. Jaillet’s .824 save percentage on Saturday is an outlier. His career save percentages have never been lower than .917 for a season. His overall .899 rate should rise, as should his 2.76 goals-against average (44th in D-I). One encouraging stat from Saturday, when the game was tied or within one goal, Jaillet’s save percentage was .929. Even on an off night, he was capable when it counted.

Freshman Dayton Rasmussen really struggled on Friday after a nice debut against Lake Superior State, an admittedly inferior opponent to Western Michigan. Not only did Rasmussen stop just 83.8 percent of the shots that reached him, but he was worse at even strength (.792) and when the game tightened up (.800 in tied or one-goal situations).

The bad news

How much of the Broncos’ bust-out on offense should be pinned on the goaltenders? This is the chicken and egg question. After reviewing the webcasts, it seems like some, but not all. After Friday’s game Montgomery talked about doing a better job protecting the net, a task of the defensemen and centers. This is where things get a bit ugly statistically.

The same six defensemen played both games and all were minus for the weekend. Blake Hillman was 4-under, Adam Plant 3 and Davies 2. Hillman was 3 down on Saturday and the other two were both minus-2. All three, however, play the toughest minutes for the Pioneers so it’s not entirely fair to single them out. None of the centers had great weekends defensively either as Borgstrom, Gambrell and Heikkinen each were minus-2 and Tyson McLellan was minus-3. Two wings had an even rougher go – Liam Finlay was minus-5 and Logan O’Connor was minus-4. McLellan and O’Connor typically are checking line mainstays so they typically have less margin for error than some of their peers.

With No. 1 St. Cloud State, which boasts the nation’s top offense (DU is No. 4) coming to town this weekend, you can bet defensive coverage and puck pressure will be points of emphasis all week at practice for DU – which did not get Monday off as it had after its previous two road trips.

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