Would No. 4 Denver take away a lesson or two from Friday’s loss at Western Michigan?

The early returns Saturday weren’t good as the No. 14 Broncos wasted little time taking 3-0 lead in the first period, built it to 5-0 midway through the second – chasing goaltender Filip Larsson in the process – and rolling to a 5-1 NCHC victory at Kalamazoo, Mich.

The loss extended the Pioneers’ winless streak to three (0-2-1) and dropped them further back in the NCHC race, five points behind the Broncos (15-8-1, 8-5-1 NCHC) for third place. DU sits two points ahead of fifth-place North Dakota, which pays a visit to Magness Arena next weekend and knocked off No. 1 St. Cloud State on Saturday.

Emilio Pettersen scored a power-play goal in the third period for DU (14-6-3, 6-6-1 NCHC) in the penalty-filled contest (19 minors plus a misconduct).

“I liked our battle level and our compete early,” Denver coach David Carle said. “I thought we played better tonight than we did last night, we played with more of urgency. I give Western Michigan a lot of credit, they’re a really good hockey team.”

Instant replay

For the second night in a row, special teams again played a role in Western Michigan taking its early lead.

The Broncos struck twice in a 40-second span in the first period, when Josh Passolt scored from between the circles on a power play, taking a feed from the left circle, and Paul Washe scored from nearly the same spot off a rush at 6:39.

Western Michigan made it 3-0 with 5:08 to go in the period, again on a power play, when Drew Worrad struck. The Broncos also killed off seven of their eight penalties.

The second period brought more of the same as the Broncos tallied twice 30 seconds apart to make it 5-0 – on goals by Cam Lee and Dawson DiPietro at 9:12 in. DiPietro made contact with the puck in Larsson’s crease, but the tally was allowed to stand after an officials’ review.

That ended Larsson’s night, and gave him consecutive losses after he had started his career with an eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2). Larsson made 19 saves on 24 shots (.792 save percentage).

It also led to Michael Corson getting his first NCAA action, and he stopped all 10 shots he faced.

The Pioneers outshot the Broncos, 20-5, in the third period, giving them a 37-34 edge for the game after WMU had carried a 29-17 advantage after two.

Up next

The Pioneers play host to North Dakota on Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena. Both games face off at 7:07 p.m.

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