In a game featuring the intensity one would expect of a Frozen Four rematch, No. 7 Denver surged past No. 9 Massachusetts, 4-2, in the opener of the teams’ two-game series Friday at Magness Arena.

Denver (12-4-3) twice overcame deficits and turned up the pressure in the third period to score three goals and flip a 2-1 deficit.

Cole Guttman, who dinged the Minutemen (13-5-1) for two goals in last April’s national semifinal, scored the dagger Friday with 2:07 to play, just 23 seconds after his redirection hit the cross bar behind Filip Lindberg (29 saves). It was one of three pieces of iron the Pioneers hit during the latter two periods.

Guttman took a pass from Emilio Pettersen and backhanded it into the gap between Lindberg and the near post.

“Emilio was working hard in the corner and just chipped it over to me,” said Guttman. “I had a guy on my back, so I thought to spin off and put it on net, it just found the short side.”

Guttman’s goal was his fifth in four games and his team-high eighth overall. The sophomore has kicked what was though to be a slump to the curb.

“I’m real proud of him,” DU coach David Carle said. “We’re seeing him really attack the game, shooting at the right times, passing at the right times and holding at the right times.”

Freshman Magnus Chrona made 20 saves to pick up his ninth win in 15 starts.

Picking up the pace

Denver had evened things up a second time 12 minutes before Guttman’s goal when senior center Tyson McLellan redirected a high shot by defenseman Slava Demin right on Lindberg’s doorstep. Demin, who had a career-best three-point night, worked the puck from right to left above the circles until he found an opening to shoot and McLellan did the rest.

Jake Durflinger, who drew a penalty on a breakaway during a DU penalty kill midway through the third that seemed to turn the tide, added an empty-net goal with 1:03 left. Durflinger also helped DU gain a 5-minute power play late in the second period when he drew a major on UMass defenseman Jake McLaughlin.

Suffice to say incentive wasn’t an issue for the Pioneers.

“We knew what happened last year and wanted to redeem ourselves a bit,” said DU captain Ian Mitchell, referring to April’s overtime loss to the Minutemen. “The game obviously wasn’t as meaningful but it was big for the Pairwise, so it was good to come out with the win.

“The last 10 minutes of the third period felt like a playoff game. It was really tight. It was fun to play in.”

Added Carle, “The pace and the physicality, it didn’t feel like the first game back.”

The Pioneers played the second and third periods without forwards Jaakko Heikkinen (injury) and Hank Crone (unknown).

“Those are two big guys for us, but everyone stepped up,” Guttman said. “We had everyone going.”

Turning points

After a first-period stalemate, business picked up in the second period.

Just 4:45 in, the Minutemen drew first blood when Matthew Kessel took a tip pass at the right point from Peyton Reeves off George Mika‘s face-off win and beat Chrona to the blocker side.

Just 3:25 later the Pioneers evened it at 1 when Demin snapped a shot from the high slot past Lindberg. Demin took a hit at the right point to get the puck into the zone, then found an opening just above and between the circles, where Guttman found him with a pass from down low.

“I saw the D didn’t have full control so I went as fast as I could, picked the puck up and came by the net and tried to find someone in the slot,” Guttman said. “It just snuck back to Slava and he had a really good shot.”

The momentum the Pioneers gained was short circuited by a mistake deep in their own zone at allowed UMass to regain the lead. After DU mishandled the puck behind its goal line, the Minutemen got a chance at the left post, which Chrona stopped. But the rebound went to McLaughlin, who had alertly moved into the lower left circle. McLaughlin shot it into an empty net with 7:36 to go in the period.

The senior’s joy was short-lived, however, as he received a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing Durflinger in the head with 3:34 to go.

Plenty of pace

Both teams played a crisp first period, which was particularly impressive for a DU team that hadn’t played since Dec. 14. UMass had a tune-up victory against RPI last Sunday.

Both goalies excecuted big stops to keep the game scoreless in the first. Lindberg made a series of saves during Denver’s second power play, the second with 9:18 to go in the period.

Chrona made a beautiful toe save with 6:25 left before a bizarre sequence in which a skater’s stick got caught in his left skate, leaving him unable to regain his footing.

Play continued for nearly 45 seconds, with the crowd screaming for a whistle, before a UMass point shot went into the net. The potential goal was waved off immediately but it was reviewed while Chrona had his left skate worked on by equipment guru Nick Meldrum at the end of the Pioneers bench.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Mitchell said. “Their guy drove the net and his stick got lodged in his skate and he couldn’t get it out. I don’t think you’ll see that too often.”

Lineup adjustments

Junior forward Ryan Barrow, who had three goals in the first nine games, returned to the Pioneers lineup after missing the past nine games because of an upper body injury. Senior defenseman Michael Davies, who missed both games of the Colorado College sweep just before the break, also was back. … Freshman forward Bobby Brink, who played for the U.S. World Junior Championship team that lost in the quarterfinals to Finland, 1-0, on Thursday, had not flown back to Denver as of Friday night and will not play this weekend. Brink and Guttman were tied with a team-high seven goals going into Friday’s game. … Junior goaltender Devin Cooley will not play this weekend because of what was described as a minor lower-body injury. He is not expected to miss more than a week or two. Cooley also missed the first 12 games of the season because of a lower-body injury.

©First Line Editorial 2020