No. 5 Denver (14-6-4, 8-4-2-1 NCHC) at No. 7 North Dakota (12-8-6, 6-6-2-2 NCHC)

Friday, 6:30 p.m. MST and Saturday, 6 p.m. MST at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

TV / radio: Friday, CBS Sports Network / 104.3 FM; Saturday, NCHC.tv

Series: North Dakota leads 145-124-12. The teams split two games at Magness Arena in November.

Overview

Just five points separate the two teams in the NCHC standings (DU is first and UND is fourth) after Denver swept Omaha and NoDak was swept by Minnesota Duluth. The Fighting Hawks are 3-4-2 in their past nine games, including 1-1-1 at the Ralph, which virtually any Pioneers player will tell you is one of their favorite destinations because of the intense atmosphere and magnificent facilities. The meetings earlier this season epitomized the bad and good of DU’s season – blowing a three-goal lead on Friday to lose, then mounting a three-goal, power-play-infused charge on Saturday to win going away.

Denver update

The Pioneers are playing their best hockey of the season, and it’s being built from the goal out. Not only has Tanner Jaillet, who was the NCAA’s second star of the week after bageling Omaha twice, been lights out of late (shutout streak of 130:08, a hand in five shutouts since the start of December), but the entire team has improved its defensive commitment. And that has begat rejuvenated offense from several players. The Dylan Gambrell–Jarid Lukosevicius–Troy Terry line is exhibit A – Gambrell has three goals and five assists in the past four games; Lukosevicius has six goals and two assists in the past six; and Terry had a goal in each game vs. Omaha and assists in the three games previous to those. … Pairing Logan O’Connor and Colin Staub with Henrik Borgstrom also has re-ignited Borgstrom, whose 35 points are second in D-I. He has 12 of those, including three goals, in the past seven games. … Ian Mitchell had a five-point weekend vs. Omaha, earning him NCHC defensive player of the week honors. His 20 points are second most among freshmen defensemen and tied with Lukosevicius for fourth on DU, behind Borgstrom, Gambrell (30) and Terry (29). Mitchell’s 16 power-play assists lead the nation. … The Pioneers average 3.62 goals per game (fifth in D-I) and allow an average of 2.21 goals per game (sixth in NCAA). Denver has outscored its opponents, 22-5, in its past five games while scoring on 31.2 percent of it power-play chances (10 of 32).

North Dakota update

The Fighting Hawks surprisingly have struggled a bit defensively of late, giving up 3, 4, 5 and 5 goals in their four losses in the past nine games, and senior Cam Johnson, who didn’t play in the two games at Magness Arena due to injury, was in net for all of them. He has been very good otherwise. Overall he’s 8-6-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. … Forward Nick Jones and defenseman Christian Wolanin lead UND with 21 points, while Jones has a team-high goals. Junior forward Shane Gersich has 17 points and sophomore defenseman Colton Poolman has 16. … North Dakota is 31st in goals per game (2.92) but 10th in defense (2.35). Its power play is 30th (19.3 percent) and its penalty kill is 27th (81.3 percent).

How it could go down

Recent history suggests this will be a split. The teams are 4-4-2 in their past 10 meetings, 2-2-1 in the past five and 1-1 earlier this season. They split at Grand Forks last season – in their only regular-season meeting. The Pioneers can flip that script, however, but doing what they’ve done best recently – playing tough team defense and burying their power play chances. If they do that, there is a good chance they’ll leave North Dakota with five or six NCHC points.

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