Denver had an answer for everything Providence threw at it Saturday night as the teams skated to a 4-4 non-conference tie at Magness Arena.

Three times the No. 7 Pioneers rallied from deficits, the last 4:54 into the third period when Jaakko Heikkinen knotted the score, during the much-anticipated debut of freshman goaltender Filip Larsson.

Larsson made 42 saves, which came in his first competition since February, when he was playing for Tri City of the USHL. Larsson, who was recovering from a lower-body injury, got stronger as the game went along.

“It’s been a long journey but it feels good to be back,” said Larsson, a Detroit Red Wings draft pick who found out midweek he’d get his first start for DU. “The first 20 minutes were bad. I’ve only practiced for two weeks but it feels good to have a game in. … The pace was a little fast the first 40 minutes but I felt good the last (period). I’m tired, but overall it’s good.”

Helping hands

Freshmen Cole Guttman, Emilio Pettersen and Tyler Ward accounted for Denver’s first three goals, and Heikkinen got his second in two nights on a brilliant effort early in the third period.

The sophomore center intercepted a D-to-D pass behind the Friars net, skated around the net and scored a wrap-around on Hayden Hawkey (34 saves). That came just 20 seconds after Greg Printz had given No. 9 Providence (7-4-2) its third lead.

This type of resilience is quickly becoming a hallmark of the Pioneers (7-3-2).

“We’ve shown it numerous times. I don’t think it’s a fluke,” coach David Carle said. “There’s something about the group. When our back’s against the wall, our bench doesn’t get rattled, they want to attack the game.”

Fresh takes

It wasn’t just that the Pioneers’ freshmen scored, but how quickly they scored in response to Providence goals.

Guttman answered the Friars’ first goal with a laser shot over Hawkey just seven seconds after the guests had taken an early lead. It was Guttman’s seventh goal of the season.

Down 3-1, Pettersen and Ward struck 42 seconds apart midway through a five-minute major to Brandon Duhaime for contact to the head of Brett Stapley.

Stapley sent a circle-to-circle pass from right to left to Pettersen on the top inside corner of the left circle, and he wasted no time beating Hawkey short side for his fifth of the season.

“We’ve been pretty good at comebacks all year,” said Pettersen, a Calgary Flames draft pick who tallied his fifth goal of the season. “We’re young and hungry and we want to win games. Our talk on the bench, we just have that attitude of not giving up. If we go down no one is feeling sorry for themselves. We’re just talking it out and seeing what we can do on the next shift.”

Ward tied it with 10:11 to play by crashing the net to reach a rebound of Colin Staub‘s redirection of Liam Finlay‘s shot from just above the right dot. It was Ward’s second goal in two nights.

First line problems

One night after containing the Friars’ first line, Denver had all sorts of problems with it Saturday.

The game could have easily gotten away from the Pioneers early in the second period, when the Friars struck twice in a 2:19 span to make it 3-1 and outshot the hosts 18-9, including nine of the first 10 shots.

Center Josh Wilkins initiated the go-ahead goal when he backhanded the puck toward Larsson from the right boards. Larsson deflected the puck away, but Kasper Bjorkqvist put the rebound back on the goalie, who again repelled it. But Wilkins got to the second rebound and knocked it past Larsson.

Bjorkqvist, a Pittsburgh Penguins second-round pick, gave the Friars a two-goal edge on a power-play strike that came off a pass from Jack Dugan, the third member of the top line. Dugan, a Vegas Golden Knights pick, had given Providence an early lead when he beat Larsson on a nifty forehand-backhand-forehand drive to the net 6:13 into the game.

“I thought (Larsson) got settled as the game went along,” Carle said. “I don’t think we did a very good job helping him. … There are some things we need to clean up around our net front.

“Give credit to Providence, they’re a team that comes hard to your net front. The pucks Filip saw he did a good job on. The ones he didn’t have a chance on I put on our team not clearing out in front of him.”

Two options in net

Larsson’s play begs the question, what do the Pioneers do going forward in net? Devin Cooley has gone 7-3-1 with a 2.08 GAA and a .933 save percentage. The sophomore took the reins and hasn’t relinquished them in the least.

“We’ll see,” Carle said. “Filip needs to play. Devin has earned every opportunity he’s been given. Both are going to see playing time for the foreseeable future. We have two good goaltenders going forward.”

Notes

Six games down and two more to go in DU’s “gauntlet” portion of its schedule. The Pioneers have played then No. 2 St. Cloud State, then No. 1 Minnesota Duluth as well as No. 9 Providence in succession, going 2-3-1. However, DU is plus-1 in goal differential during that stretch, 18-17. … The Pioneers rectified one of Friday’s pressing problems, going on the plus side in the face-off circle. DU won 41 of 76 draws (54 percent). Heikkinen went 13 of 23, Guttman was 9 of 13 and Tyson McLellan won 6 of 9. … Denver was outshot for the sixth game in a row, allowing 38 or more shots on goal in each. … Freshman defenseman Sean Comrie‘s assist on Guttman’s goal was his first NCAA point.

Denver’s three stars

1. Jaakko Heikkinen. A great individual effort to tie the score at 4 and he won 13 of 23 draws (56.5 percent).
2. Emilio Pettersen. The freshman was all over the ice and got a somewhat lethargic 5-minute power play rolling with DU’s second goal.
3. Tyler Ward. His game is growing by leaps and bounds, as evidenced by his second goal in two nights.

Up next

The Pioneers have next weekend off before resuming NCHC play with a series at No. 17 North Dakota on Dec. 7-8. The Friday game faces off at 6:37 p.m. MST and the Saturday game is at 6:07 p.m.

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