A game that started with Denver playing confidently and in control ended with a short-term disappointment but potentially a long-term benefit.

For the fourth time in the past five games the No. 7 Pioneers saw a lead of two goals or larger evaporate, and on Saturday night it cost them for the third time in that span as they lost to top-ranked Minnesota Duluth, 4-3, in overtime.

However, the Pioneers (6-3-1, 3-2-1 NCHC) corrected a handful of areas on their to-do list from Friday’s 2-0 victory in which Devin Cooley played superlatively. The sophomore was good again Saturday, making 41 saves for a total of 79 in the series, and his teammates helped him by building a 3-0 lead midway through two periods.

Among the improvements the Pioneers made were taking better care of the puck. They also stayed out of the sin bin, a place they’d had a standing reservation during the past three games when they took six, eight and five penalties, respectively.

“Devin battled and competed,” DU coach David Carle said. “Our team took a lot of steps from last week to this week. Our puck management got better.

“We’re taking steps in the right direction. This stretch (which also includes No. 9 Providence and No. 11 North Dakota) is only going to make us better later in the year.”

On Saturday, however, the Pioneers had to contend with a team that clearly was tired of being held scoreless for the first 100-plus minutes of its stay in Denver, and the Bulldogs (9-2-1, 3-1 NCHC) aren’t defending national champions for nothing.

Back to school

Duluth scored three times in the final 13:04 of regulation, the last by Scott Perunovich during a goal-mouth battle royale to tie it with 1 second left and an extra Bulldogs attacker on. Cole Koepke then struck 52 seconds into overtime to give the Bulldogs their first victory against the Pioneers in eight meetings dating to the 2017 national championship game.

“We played a great two periods, we executed our game plan very well,” Carle said. “(Our) response to a not great game last night was really good. … In the third our block-outs at the net front weren’t great. They had a hungrier nose at the net.

“The learning lesson is you have to continue to attack and pursue the game. Duluth is a good hockey team. They continued to push and came after us in the third. We were not able to weather the storm to a good enough level and punch back.”

Nick Swaney‘s goal 6:54 into the third period ended Cooley’s shutout streak at 117:47. Just 2:31 later, Billy Exell snapped a high glove-side shot past the sophomore to make it 3-2, and it was game on.

Much of DU’s defensive zone coverage and corresponding offensive zone pressure left the building, and Duluth’s sustained pressure caught up with the Pioneers with no time to spare.

“I liked the way we came out the first two periods, kind of took it to them and controlled the game,” assistant captain Tyson McLellan said. “Then we kind of sat back. We’re a young team, we’re learning how to win. That’s a good team over there. We’ll take the split. We should have had a sweep but we’ll learn from it.”

What a difference a night makes

DU put in a game’s worth of work in the first period, particularly if that game was Friday’s.

The Pioneers built a 2-0 lead on goals by Cole Guttman and Brett Stapley in a 3:17 stretch and totaled 14 shots in the first 20 minutes. The goals and shots totals matched Friday’s game.

Guttman scored after defenseman Griffin Mendel carried the puck down the left side, circled the net and found the freshman open between the hashmarks. Stapley’s goal came off a scramble on Hunter Shepard‘s doorstep and survived an official’s review.

The Guttman goal – 3:03 in – came DU’s seventh shot, something that took them nearly two periods to achieve Friday. Stapley’s was on the 10th shot, which landed midway through Friday’s third period. The difference was simple, said the freshman, who also had the primary assist on the third goal.

“I thought we were communicating a lot out there, playing simply, getting pucks deep, getting pucks to the net,” Stapley said. “You saw last night we didn’t have a lot of shots (14), and we tried to change that in the first period.”

Les Lancaster made it 3-0 with a shot that appeared to hit a Duluth player on its way past Shepard (26 saves) at 7:20 of the second.

Going forward

While the finish wasn’t what the doctor ordered for Saturday’s game, Carle doesn’t view it as a setback in the long game.

“You have to learn how to win hockey games, you have to learn how to play in tough moments,” he said. “Teams aren’t going to go away, especially in our conference. Every team believes they can come back. We have to continue to bear down, we have to continue to attack the game.”

Denver’s three stars

1. Brett Stapley. The freshman had a goal and an assist and was around the puck a lot in the first two periods.
2. Devin Cooley. The sophomore made 41 saves, giving him 79 in two games.
3. Griffin Mendel. The defenseman continued to show more assertiveness with the puck and battled Duluth’s oak trees valiantly two nights in a row.

Up next

The Pioneers play host to No. 9 Providence on Friday and Saturday at 7:07 p.m. The Friars are coming off a sweep of Merrimack in which they scored 16 goals in the two games.

©First Line Editorial 2017-18