No. 6 Denver’s penalty kill, so strong over the past month, had a major hiccup Saturday night at Omaha, but the Pioneers emerged with an extra NCHC point when Les Lancaster went coast to coast to score in the second overtime.

The Mavericks rallied from a 3-1 deficit when they got their second and third power-play goals of the game off the stick of former Pioneer Kevin Conley.

““It was an emotional hockey game,” Du coach David Carle said. “We’re ultimately happy we were able to get the extra point, but disappointed our special teams weren’t executing to the level they were last night. You have to tip your hat to Omaha.”

A 3-3 tie for NCAA purposes, the outcome ended DU’s win streak against Omaha at 15 games and prevented it from reaching 20 wins for another week.

Still, the Pioneers (19-8-5, 11-8-3-2 NCHC) picked up two more points to solidify their hold on third place in the conference. That could mean the difference between playing host to Colorado College in the NCHC quarterfinals in two weeks,  No. 20 North Dakota, which defeated the Tigers on Saturday, 2-1, or No. 10 Western Michigan, which trails DU by four points.

Denver and Omaha (9-20-3, 5-15-2-1) traded goals late in the first period.

Freshman Kyle Mayhew, a defenseman by trade but skating up at forward because of injuries, scored his first NCAA goal off a feed from Jake Durflinger with 1:22 to go. But Dean Stewart scored a power-play marker 59 seconds later.

DU leading scorer Liam Finlay got the one-goal lead back only 1:24 into the second, his 13th of the season, and 12 minutes later Kohen Olischefski extended the lead to 3-1.

But another late period power-play goal, Conley’s first with 3:49 to play, halved DU’s lead. Conley struck again with 5:20 to go in the third to set up Lancaster’s heroics on a night Denver was outshot 34-25. Devin Cooley made 31 saves, while counterpart Evan Weninger stopped 22 shots.

Denver’s three stars

1. Kohen Olischefski. The sophomore had maybe his best game of the season, getting goal, going 9 for 13 on the draw and nearly winning the game in overtime.
2. Devin Cooley. He didn’t give up an even-strength goal and was under siege at times, making 31 saves.
3. Kyle Mayhew. Playing a new position, he scored his first NCAA goal.

Up next

The Pioneers play a home-and-home series against Colorado College to finish the regular season. DU hosts Friday’s game at Magness Arena, then travels to World Arena in Colorado Springs on Saturday. The Tigers have clinched sixth in the conference, so this could be a NCHC playoff preview as well.

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