A slow start and an opportunistic, motivated foe were too much for No. 6 Denver to overcome on Friday night.

Colorado College scored two first-period goals, and Tigers goaltender Alec Leclerc made them stand up in a 2-1 NCHC victory at Magness Arena that added several layers of intrigue to Saturday night’s game at World Arena.

First, the Gold Pan is now up for grabs as the teams have gone 1-1-1 thus far this season. DU is trying to capture it for a record fifth consecutive season.

“The message is it’s unique to be able to win a championship on a Saturday night after you lose on a Friday night,” DU captain Colin Staub said. “That’s an opportunity for us to learn as a team and that should excite us to go in an away barn and try to win a hockey game.

“CC’s not going to roll over and let us win. We have to play a full 60 minutes of hockey. … We have to go into CC with more urgency.”

Second, the Pioneers’ positioning in the NCHC playoffs is in question. We know next weekend’s quarterfinal series will be at Magness Arena, but the opponent now is more open-ended. With DU’s loss and Western Michigan’s win, the Broncos are just one point back of third place.

Finish third and the Tigers will be back next weekend. Finish fourth and it’s a series against North Dakota.

And finally, the Pioneers’ pursuit of an 18th consecutive 20-win season will have to wait another night, or longer.

Inauspicious start

Just as they did during the teams’ first meeting of the season, the Pioneers found themselves with a two-goal deficit. This time, however, it was after one period instead of during the second period of what would prove to be a 4-4 tie on Feb. 19.

“Their start was good. They’re real opportunistic,” Denver coach David Carle said. “I thought we gave them a lot of easy offense. It just can’t happen in the first period of a big hockey game. We talked about playing with urgency and we just weren’t able to do that tonight.”

A Les Lancaster penalty just 20 seconds into the game led to Mason Bergh‘s blast from the top of the left circle that beat Filip Larsson (22 saves) on the blocker side. Bryan Yoon had found Bergh open with a circle-to-circle pass.

“They took the momentum right away on their power play,” Staub said. “We took that early penalty. It seemed like we were chasing it for the next 10 to 15 minutes. They’re a team that thrives on momentum and we gave it to them early on. It took us too long to get it back.”

The Tigers nearly made it 2-0 with 6:52 to go in the period but Trey Bradley missed an open net on a rebound to Larsson’s right. The senior atoned for that with 1:39 left when Bergh drove the net, drew a holding penalty on Jaakko Heikkinen and got a shot off in close that Larsson stopped. The rebound went to Bradley – between two DU defensemen – on the bottom of the right circle and he deposited it into the empty net.

Energy boost

The Pioneers (19-9-5, 11-9-3-3 NCHC) regained a measure of momentum midway through the second period courtesy of one of the three seniors who were honored before the game.

Staub halved the Tigers’ lead when he sent a rebound past Leclerc from his backside with 8:29 to play in the second. Ryan Barrow won a battle for the puck near the DU bench and got the puck to Slava Demin. The freshman’s shot from the left point hit Leclerc (26 saves) and bounced to the goalie’s left doorstep.

“Leclerc is a really good goaltender in close, but he also sees the ice really well,” Carle said. “I thought he was great all night long.”

DU generated several more quality chances from then on out, including a potential goal by Barrow 5:08 into the third that was waved off because he redirected it with a high stick. A video review upheld the no-goal call on the ice. Barrow nearly scored again with 6:30 to go after receiving a slap pass at the end of a line rush.

“I would have liked to see us get a few more pucks to the net like we did on the Staub goal,” Carle said. “In the third, they did a really good job locking it down and closing out the game.

“They do a really good job staying between their man and the net.”

Could more shots on Leclerc have helped? At times it appeared DU might have been guilty of overpassing.

“Could we have gotten more pucks on net like we did on the Staub goal, certainly,” Carle added. “But I didn’t see us overtly passing up a ton of grade A shots and looks. I thought we could have shot the puck more times when we were on the perimeter just to get it inside the dots and force them to reset a little.” 

Goalie rotation

Carle said after the game he expects sophomore goalie Devin Cooley to get the call in net Saturday night for the fifth time in the past eight games, or since the sophomore has been healthy after suffering an upper-body injury in January.

“That will be the plan,” the coach said.

What will the Pioneers’ net situation look like going forward?

“We’ll continue to evaluate it,” Carle said.

Cooley has gone 2-1-1 since returning, including his 1-0 shutout at World Arena a week and a half ago. Larson is 2-1 in that span.

Note

Barrow returned to the Pioneers’ lineup after missing the past three games due to injury. Top-line center Brett Stapley missed his sixth consecutive game after suffering an injury against Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 16.

Denver’s three stars

1. Colin Staub. The captain scored DU’s lone goal and led a line that was easily the team’s best all game.
2. Ryan Barrow. Nearly had two goals and was around the puck all night.
3. Ian Mitchell. The defenseman controlled play at times and generated a handful of chances.

Up next

The teams conclude their regular-season series Saturday at World Arena in Colorado Springs. Face-off is 7 p.m.

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