One night after the horses largely stayed in the barn, a full-on rodeo was held at Magness Arena on Saturday night.

Top-ranked Denver erupted for three goals in the first 4:06 of the second period to flip what had been a somewhat sloppy, back-and-forth game into a 5-2 lead on its way to a 6-4 victory against No. 6 Boston College.

Tyson McLellan scored two goals off feeds from Hank Crone, the second of which started the period 2 onslaught just 1:29 in. Exactly two minutes later, captain Ian Mitchell used a headfake to move a BC defender and score through a Ryan Barrow screen on the power play. On the next shift, senior Liam Finlay bagged his first goal of the season after seven assists.

The McLellan-Crone-Finlay trio accounted for eight points and three goals.

“I thought we had a lot of chances the last two weekends,” Finlay said. “We weren’t necessarily putting them in and then you know, Tyson and Croner stepped up tonight so it’s awesome.”

Crone, a sophomore transfer who played for BC’s hated rival Boston University two seasons ago, drew the primary assist on all three goals.

“He’s got really good vision, is a really good passer,” McLellan said. “He’s not the fastest skater, but he’s really good at reading where the puck’s going and reading where guys are going. He’s a great addition to our line.”

The Pioneers then endured a mini-comeback by the Eagles (2-2) before sealing it on freshman Bobby Brink‘s goal with 1:34 to go. Mitchell made that play by driving the net and shooting. Brink backhanded the rebound over Spencer Knight.

“You gotta give credit to them. They’re good hockey team and they didn’t go away,” DU coach David Carle said. “At 5-2 we didn’t think they would, but that’s a step that our team needs to make.

“We executed last night up 1-0. And it’s funny, you’re up three (goals) tonight and you don’t execute as well. So it’s the ups and downs of a season that we have to learn to be more consistent in those moments.”

The win sends Denver into a week off with a 6-0 record, its best start since 2003-04 (also 6-0). The Eagles head East with a 2-2 mark.

“After game six we think we’re further ahead than we were last year,” Carle said. “And it’s a really good foundation that we’ve laid here the first three weeks of the year.”

Wild start

One difference from Friday’s DU victory, which was a 1-0 game for all but the final minute, was both goalies were dented early and often in a back-and-forth first period.

Neither the Pioneers’ Magnus Chrona (22 saves) nor the Eagles’ Knight (31 saves) was at their best initially.

BC sandwiched goals by Avalanche prospect Alex Newhook and Oilers prospect Aapeli Rasanen around McLellan’s first goal and Jake Durflinger‘s first tally of the season. The final three of those goals came in a 2:11 span.

One similarity was special teams played a big role in the scoring (Cole Guttman’s power-play marker Friday was the winner). Three of the first four goals Saturday came on special teams. Newhook’s rebound shot came just as the Eagles went on a kill after a 4-on-4 ended. McLellan’s and Rasanen’s strikes came midway through power plays.

Denver ended up scoring three power-play goals, giving it four for the weekend after having just two in its first four games. BC’s power-play goal was the first the Pioneers have allowed in 25 chances.

“The whole game was it was interesting,” Carle said. “There were a lot of penalties, a lot of goals, a lot of plays. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily the type of game we want to play, but it’s good to be able to a game like that.”

A second turning point

Once DU secured its 5-2 margin, it seemed the Pioneers were trying their best to give some it back, taking three consecutive penalties in a 5:12 stretch midway through the second period. Two came 29 seconds apart, but the Pioneers killed off the Eagles’ 1:31 of 5-on-3 time.

“It was really big,” Carle said. “The odds and the stats will tell you that if you don’t score on your 5-on-3, your chances of winning the game go down drastically, and at 5-2 you even think maybe at that time you have one to give. Turns out we didn’t. So it turns out to be a really big kill. We haven’t worked on five vs. three yet, so we got some live video to teach off of.”

Keeping the faith

The Eagles cut DU’s lead to 5-3 on Mike Hardman‘s goal 2:49 into the third. Jack McBain‘s shot hit Chrona’s right leg pad and bounced over to Hardman on the doorstep. The goal stood after a video review.

McBain redirected a shot by Avalanche prospect Drew Helleson, with 5:24 to go to make it a one-goal game. Still, the Pioneers weren’t ready to convene a Poor Me Party.

“We stayed really calm,” Finlay said. “What helped us the most there was we didn’t panic. We knew we were in the lead. There were a couple of tough bounces there but we stayed strong.”

©First Line Editorial 2019