No. 6 Denver took control early, weathered an Omaha surge and pulled away in the third period for a 4-1 NCHC victory – its 15th consecutive against the Mavericks – on Friday night.

Jaakko Heikkinen and Cole Guttman each had a third-period goal and they added assists on Michael Davies‘ opening strike. Jarid Lukosevicius scored his team-high16th goal and Filip Larsson made 25 saves for the Pioneers (19-8-4, 11-8-2-2 NCHC).

“I loved our start,” DU coach David Carle said. “I thought in the first we were on our toes and were very aggressive. In the second period their puck pressure was better and it made us uncomfortable … the game got a little bit sideways for us and we were able to come out with a 2-1 lead.”

Freshman Taylor Ward scored for Omaha (9-20-2, 5-15-1-1 NCHC), which got 19 saves from Evan Weninger.

DU’s victory, combined with Western Michigan’s loss to Minnesota Duluth, moved the Pioneers into third place in the NCHC by two points. DU stands three points back of the Bulldogs for second.

A win Saturday would give Denver its 18th consecutive 20-win season, the longest active such streak in Division I hockey.

Special teams surge

The Pioneers’ penalty kill went 5 for 5, extending their run of shorthanded success to 22 consecutive kills over the past eight games, when they’re 5-2-1.

Davies scored DU’s third power-play goal in their past four games 11:20 into the game. In the five games before that, DU had gone 1 for 19 on the man advantage.

Just 1:06 after Davies struck, Lukosevicius extended the lead to 2-0 off a feed from Kohen Olischefski. That capped a first period in which the Pioneers built a 12-6 shots on goal edge.

Weathering the storm

The Mavericks came out flying the second, and Ward put them on the board just 53 seconds in.

What was all Larsson would allow, however, despite business picking in the final two periods, when he faced 20 shots.

Heikkinen took matters into his hands early in the third, extending the lead to 3-1 when he beat an Omaha defender to the outside, skated around Weninger’s cage and caught the senior out of position for a wraparound 2:53 in.

“I thought we played better in the third, it was similar to the first in the mentality that we tried to take the game to them,” Carle said.

Guttman sealed it when he walked between the circles, used a defender as a screen and snapped a shot into the top corner with 5:54 left.

Note

The Pioneers again were without three injured forwards – Ryan Barrow, Brett Stapley and Jared Resseguie. As a result, freshman defenseman Kyle Mayhew again skated on the fourth line with Tyson McLellan and Jake Durflinger.

Denver’s three stars

1. Jaakko Heikkinen. His early third-period goal helped DU re-assert itself. He also added an assist.
2. Filip Larsson. His positioning was sound en route to making 25 saves, a handful of big ones after the first period.
3. Michael Davies. He helped spearhead the Pioneers’ strong defense and penalty kill while scoring an all-important first goal on the road.

Up next

The series concludes Saturday at 6:07 p.m.

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