You had to know it would come down to this when Denver and Minnesota Duluth play – one goal.

Eight of the past nine meetings between the teams have been decided by that margin and the meeting before that was a 1-1 tie. The Pioneers won all eight of the one-goal affairs – including Friday’s 1-0 thriller, while the Bulldogs took the ninth game (3-1).

There was one notable difference on Saturday night at Magness Arena – the usually stingy defenses weren’t as tight, but the No. 5 Pioneers prevailed anyway, 4-3, on Dylan Gambrell‘s tap-in goal 9:09 into the third period. Only one other time during the past 10 meetings have the teams combined for as many as seven goals – Dec. 9, 2016, one night before Duluth handed DU a 3-1 loss.

The Pioneers (16-6-6, 10-4-4-3 NCHC) saw an early lead vanish, then rallied twice to tie the score before Gambrell finished a play that he had initiated by securing the puck below the Bulldogs’ goal line and getting it to defenseman Michael Davies, who got the puck to Troy Terry. Terry had a couple of chances on Hunter Shepard, the last of which eluded the UMD goalie long enough for Gambrell to locate the puck and put it over the line.

“Against a team like that that works so hard, they’re not going to be the prettiest goals, but we have to find a way to get to the crease to put the puck in the net,” Gambrell said.

Shepard made 40 saves and was under siege for extended stretches of the second and third periods.

“I thought in the last 12 minutes of the second and then in the third they had moments where they were really good, but the majority of the time I thought we were the team dictating the tempo,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said.

That wasn’t the case early on in a game that started off with a penalty parade – three in the first 5:08. However, Logan O’Connor put the Pioneers ahead 4:22 in when he stripped a UMD defenseman of the puck, then won a race to retrieve the loose biscuit and won another race down the left wing before firing it past Shepard.

DU’s lead lasted little more than six minutes before U.S. World Junior team member Scott Perunovich got the puck on a low to high pass, moved laterally between the circles and fired a bar down shot that Tanner Jaillet appeared screened on at 10:26.

Eight minutes later, another WJC veteran, fellow freshman Mikey Anderson rifled a puck toward the DU net that a third freshman, Kobe Roth redirected past Jailliet (32 saves).

“We knew they were going to come hard,” Gambrell said. “They’re a great team, they have a good coaching staff and we knew they were going to bounce back and bring their best. They definitely brought it in the first.”

Ryan Barrow brought Denver back when he walked into the left circle and beat Shepard cleanly with a snapper 4:53 in.

But the Bulldogs (14-13-3, 8-10-0 NCHC) came right back four minutes later. Another freshman, Louis Roehl, hit Riley Tufte with a beautiful stretch pass that caught DU on a partial line change. Tufte, yet another WJC veteran, roared down the left wing and beat Jaillet short side to re-establish a one-goal Bulldogs lead.

All three UMD goals were initiated by freshmen defensemen, which bodes very well for the Bulldogs’ future.

Denver’s top line of Gambrell, Terry and Jarid Lukosevicius – with cameos from Henrik Borgstrom – then took over the present.

Lukosevicius finished a scramble in front of Shepard for his 13th goal with 2:20 to go in the second after Gambrell got him the puck in the slot.

“That was huge,” Gambrell said. “That’s great momentum to have that going into the locker room, get the guys going for the third period.”

Terry said the top line, which Montgomery matched against Duluth’s trio of Tufte, Peter Krieger and Joey Anderson, had more to give, and give they did in the third period.

“We knew that the first half of that game we weren’t good enough,” Terry said. “We weren’t playing bad but we weren’t taking over the game, and Duluth was pushing us a little bit.

“Everyone, Luko, Ryan Barrow took it upon themselves to turn the tide. My line had a lot of success down low, protecting pucks, and the last half the game we got back to that.”

That lead to an increasingly familiar result and one pushed DU to 11-1-3 vs. ranked opponents this season, a statistic that will come in handy when it’s time to seed teams for the NCAA Tournament.

“I thought (the top line was) great all weekend. I thought Terry was unbelievable,” Montgomery said. “They were great at both ends of the ice. We matched them up against their top line and they outplayed them.

“We needed it in order to have a chance to stay with St. Cloud (in the NCHC standings) because they have two games in hand. We needed an effort like this.”

Winter break

Saturday’s game marked the final one Terry will play for DU for three weeks due to his participation in the Olympic Games for Team USA. The junior assistant captain said the Pioneers’ recent provided a boost on several levels.

“(Sweeping a team like Duluth) is going to help the guys when I’m gone,” Terry said. “We’re playing really good hockey right now, we’re building. And I know the guys are going to keep that going while I’m gone.

“And for myself it’s better to go into a tournament like this with confidence is huge. This weekend was good for the team and for myself. I’m really excited where we’re headed. It’s going to be hard to be away from it for a couple of games, but I know they’ll keep turning it the right way.”

He is expected to miss just four games – two against Colorado College in two weeks and two at St. Cloud State the weekend after that.

Denver’s three stars

1. Dylan Gambrell. Not only did he help force a turnover that Logan O’Connor turned into a shorthanded goal, but he drew a primary assist on Jarid Lukosevicius’ tying goal before poking in the winner.
2. Troy Terry. Strong on the puck all weekend, he drew at least three penalties in the two games and created the scoring chance Gambrell cashed in.
3. Michael Davies. Any time you go plus-4 in a one-goal game, you’re doing something right, and the defenseman played perhaps his most complete game of the season.

Up next

Denver is off next weekend before playing a home-and-home series against Colorado College on Feb. 16 and 17.

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