A goalmouth collision altered the momentum of Saturday night’s game between Denver and Miami, and the hope this week is that it doesn’t alter the course of DU’s season.

Defenseman Michael Davies, attempting to break up a Miami 2-on-1 rush, collided with sprawled goaltender Tanner Jaillet with 3:15 to go in the first period. The momentum of the two Pioneers carried them into – and nearly through – the net.

The upshot of the play was Jaillet left the game after the first period and the RedHawks’ rally from a 3-0 deficit was underway because Gordie Green was credited with a goal after a lengthy review while Jaillet and Davies were tended to on the ice. Davies went to the locker room but returned to play the rest of the game, which ended in a 3-3 tie for NCAA purposes.

“Our team didn’t respond well when our backbone of our team got injured,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said, adding he expects Jaillet to be ready to play in the upcoming NCHC quarterfinals. “The second period I thought we played tight and tense and Miami came back at us and tied it up.”

Miami got the extra point when freshman forward Phil Knies, who played some of his youth hockey in Colorado, roofed a goal over backup goaltender Dayton Rasmussen 1:46 into the second overtime to gain the extra point for NCHC standings.

Knies’ goal came after the last in a long line of defensive zone turnovers by the Pioneers, who had one of their poorer games of the season moving the puck out of their zone.

Those 3-0 leads had a way of flummoxing the Pioneers earlier this season, when they vanished in losses to Western Michigan (Nov. 4), North Dakota (Nov. 17) and Dartmouth (Dec. 18). But that problem had been solved, or so it was thought.

“It’s been a trend this year, we have a good start and get up three goals, four goals at some points during the year and then we blow it,” senior defenseman Adam Plant said. “It’s unacceptable. We’re done talking about. We’ve got to put our heads down and just do it.”

Miami tied the score on two second-period goals by Karch Bachman. The Florida Panthers draft pick beat Rasmussen with a short-side snapper 2:47 into the period, then redirected Louis Belpedio‘s power-play point shot with 8:23 to go in the frame.

“I don’t think we’re comfortable with leads,” Plant said. “It’s just the lack of urgency. We get up, and we think it’s going to be easy. They get one and get the momentum, and we struggled to get it back.”

A potential go-ahead goal by senior captain Tariq Hammond was waved off late in the period after a video review indicated the puck was kicked in past Ryan Larkin (32 saves).

The second period, in which Miami outshot DU 15-7 as well, stood in contrast to most of the first period.

Rasmussen made 20 saves in relief, and he said his comfort level improved as the game went on.

“When Tanner got hurt I thought I was going out there, but in between periods I knew I was going in right away,” said Rasmussen, who had not played since November. “It’s a tough spot but you’re the backup goaltender so you have to be ready at all times.

“The biggest thing that frustrates me with what happened was I didn’t have much confidence coming into the game but it built in the second and then I made all the saves in the third.

Denver absolutely blitzed Larkin in the first 4:19 of the game.

Jarid Lukosevicius scored from the slot after a nice pass from Dylan Gambrell from below the goal line on a power play at 1:13. Just 18 seconds later, freshman Ryan Barrow scored on a breakaway on DU’s second shot on goal.

“What a great read and execuction we knew they were running by Barrow, and he made a great play to open up the five hole,” Montgomery said.

Then Plant kept the senior weekend celebration going, getting his second goal in two games at 4:19, firing one past Larkin from the top outside corner of the left circle on DU’s fourth shot.

After that, the Pioneers were blanked for more than 60 minutes, raising some questions previously thought answered heading into the postseason.

Renewing acquaintances

The Pioneers’ next opponent is one they’re all too familiar with – Colorado College. The teams split their four games this season with each winning in the other’s building in February after two ties in December.

The Pioneers also played host to the Tigers in a quarterfinal series last season, winning 4-1 and 4-0. At that point DU had built its winning streak vs. CC to 14 games.

“We know it’s going to be a lot tougher series than last year because of how they played us this year,” Montgomery said.

The Tigers are coming off an uneven weekend against Western Michigan. They scored two third-period goals to pull out a 2-1 win on Friday, then allowed six goals in the second period en route to an 8-2 drubbing.

Denver’s three stars

1. Ryan Barrow. The freshman made two great plays to score DU’s second goal – reading a face-off play and capturing the puck, then lugging it the length of the ice and beating Ryan Larkin.

2. Adam Plant. The senior scored his second goal in two games and fired four shots.

3. Dylan Gambrell. The junior set up DU’s first and third goals.

Up next

The Pioneers will play host to Colorado College in a best-of-3 NCHC quarterfinal series beginning Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Magness Arena.

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