No. 7 Denver (8-4-2) at Merrimack (4-12-1)

5 p.m. Friday at North Andover, Mass.

Radio/webcast: AM 1600 / merrimackathletics.com/watch/

Series: Denver leads, 2-1, but Merrimack took a 3-2 victory at Magness Arena one year ago.

Overview

All statistical signs point to a Denver victory, but we thought that last season, too, and the Warriors edged the Pioneers on home ice. Still, the arguments in DU’s favor are pretty compelling. Denver has substantial edges in offense (3.36 goals per game to 2.00), defense (2.29 to 4.06) and special teams. The Pioneers’ power play hits 19.4 percent of the time (compared to the Warriors’ 15.7) and their penalty kill is effective almost 84 percent of the time to 75 percent. Merrimack doesn’t help itself by taking four more penalty minutes per game than DU (16 to 12). … The Pioneers will be without defenseman Ian Mitchell, who is an assistant captain on Canada’s World Junior Championship team. Mitchell will miss the next four games but be back for the resumption of NCHC play on Jan. 11 vs. Omaha. … This kicks off a four-game stretch of non-conference road games for the Pioneers, who go to UMass-Lowell on Saturday and Wisconsin next weekend. … Denver’s David Carle will face a very familiar foe in this game – his younger brother Alex is a senior defenseman for the Warriors.

Three keys for Denver

Play disciplined – DU did a much better at this during its last three games before the break, totaling just 10 penalties in a tie vs. Providence and a split at North Dakota. Mitchell’s absence will hurt the defense, and he’s one of the better penalty killers.

Foot on the gas – Sometimes the first games after a long break (20 days) can be what I call piano skates, as in get the piano off your back. DU needs to start strong and keep the heat on the Warriors. Last season, the Pioneers let them hang around and hang around and ended up losing.

Team defense – The Pioneers likely will start sophomore Devin Cooley in one game and freshman Filip Larsson in the other in net this weekend. It’s incumbent upon DU to support them with a team buy-in, and the Pioneers have been at their best in games they’ve had that. Mitchell’s absence means bigger roles for younger defensemen such as Sean Comrie and Slava Demin. Ideally, you don’t want to fry the top pair of Griffin Mendel and Michael Davies.

©First Line Editorial 2017-18