No. 8 Denver (10-4-2) at Wisconsin (8-7-3)

6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Madison, Wis.

Radio / webcast: 1600 AM (Friday) and 104.3 FM (Saturday) / BTN Plus (subscription)

Series: Wisconsin leads 76-62-13

Last meeting: Denver won, 6-5, at Magness Arena on Nov. 26, 2016

Overview

The Pioneers will be looking to extend their road and overall win streaks, which stand at three, when they renew acquaintances with their former WCHA rivals. The Pioneers will welcome back sophomore defenseman Ian Mitchell (11 points) to the lineup after he missed last weekend’s games in Massachusetts. Mitchell was busy playing for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships in British Columbia. DU equipment manager Nick Meldrum is working in the same capacity for Team USA. … Wisconsin will be without its top scorer, defenseman K’Andre Miller (17 points), who is playing for Team USA. … Mitchell is one of six Pioneers in double figures in scoring – a group led by line mates Jarid Lukosevicius and Emilio Pettersen with 17 points apiece. The third member of that trio, Cole Guttman, is tied with fellow forward Liam Finlay with 14 points, while Brett Stapley, Finlay’s center, has 12. Stapley did not play last week because of what is believed to be a lower-body injury. He and defenseman Les Lancaster (undisclosed) had orange no-contact jerseys on at practice this week and their availability will be a game-time decision. … Captain Colin Staub has points in six games in a row (two goals) and linemate Ryan Barrow has points in four in a row and goals in two straight. … As he discussed in our podcast this week, coach David Carle anticipates keeping the goalie rotation going. Devin Cooley (8-4-1, 2.07 GAA, .930) has gotten the call the last three Fridays, while freshman Filip Larsson – the NCHC’s goalie of the month – has gotten the nod three Saturdays in a row. Larsson has 2-0-1, 1.90 GAA and .940 numbers. … Daniel Lebedeff (5-3-2, 2.52 GAA, .911) carries the mail in net and Tarek Baker has scored 15 points for the Badgers.  … DU volunteer assistant Steven Reinprecht will make a homecoming this weekend. He was a captain at Wisconsin, an All-American in 1999-2000 and scored 162 points in 154 games before embarking upon his pro career.

Alumni updates

Four former DU players – Henrik Borgström, Matt Donovan, Trevor Moore and Troy Terry were selected the AHL All-Star Game this week. Borgström recently was called up to the Florida Panthers and Moore made his NHL debut late last month.

Three keys for Denver

Start fast – Wisconsin has not played in almost four weeks, and the Pioneers won’t want to give them time to knock off the rust. DU improved as last weekend went along, and if it can carry that momentum forward it has a good chance to pack more points in its suitcase for the trip home.

Power up – If there is one matchup that favors the Pioneers, it’s their power play (21.3 percent) vs. the Badgers’ leaky penalty kill (75.9 percent). And keep in mind DU is 9-1-1 when it scores a power-play goal. Lukosevicius and Pettersen have four PPGs apiece.

Noise cancelling – Can the traveling Pioneers limit an opponent to one goal or fewer for a fourth game in a row? That would be especially impressive against a Badgers team that is 7-2-1 at home and unbeaten in their past five games overall. Wisconsin scores more than a goal per game more at home (4.20) than it does overall (3.17). The Kohl Center is a raucous environment, much like what DU saw at North Dakota, and the Badgers feed off of that.

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