The formula for winning road games against tough opponents often follows a familiar template – win the special teams battle and ride hot goaltending.

No. 10 Minnesota Duluth did just that Friday night, edging No. 4 Denver, 3-2, on the strength of three power-play goals and 37 saves from Hunter Shepard.

Freshmen Bobby Brink, also on the power play, and Justin Lee scored DU’s goals, and Magnus Chrona made 24 saves. The loss ended the Pioneers’ 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3).

Juniors Nick Swaney and Justin Richards and sophomore Cole Koepke had the man-advantage goals for the Bulldogs (14-9-2, 9-4-2 NCHC).

“The penalties hurt us, clearly,” DU coach David Carle said. “Our penalty kill needs to be better. I told the players it starts with me. I run our penalty kill and I didn’t do a good enough job preparing them to have success tonight.”

The loss, combined with Western Michigan’s win at Omaha, dropped DU (17-5-5, 7-4-4-3 NCHC) into a tie for third place in the NCHC standings, one point behind UMD.

How the game was won

Quite simply, on the power play.

Denver took five of the game’s first six penalties – including a five-minute major by Brett Stapley for contact to Shepard’s head that also resulted in the sophomore center getting a game misconduct.

“It puts us behind the 8-ball,” DU senior Tyson McLellan said. “We know they have a good power play and we take stupid penalties and it comes back to bite us in the butt. It’s February. We’ve got to learn from that and be better than that.”

Swaney scored UMD’s first goal 11 seconds into Cole Guttman‘s hooking penalty 7:40 into the game. The right wing wheeled behind the Pioneers net and wrapped the puck around Chrona.

Lee’s first NCAA goal evened things up 4:42 later, but Richards restored the Bulldogs’ lead when he buried a rebound from the lower left circle after Quinn Olson‘s shot from the right dot. That tally came with just six seconds left in the first period.

Brink tied it 2:06 into the second, but Koepke beat Chrona from the right dot with an off-wing snipe under the bar.

The scoreboard operator got the final 25:31 of the game off.

The man advantage generated 11 of the Bulldogs’ 27 shots on goal. At even strength, the Pioneers outshot their guests 36-16.

“You have to get inside ice to generate (scoring chances), they don’t give you easy goals,” Carle said. “We did a lot of good things five on five. We generated some really good looks.

“Their goaltender was there to answer the bell. They always have people at the net front. It’s not like we have great looks without people on us.”

Skating shorthanded

Not only did it appear that Stapley was checked into Shepard, but assessing the sophomore center a 5-minute major and a game misconduct seemed  excessive.

In addition to leading to the second of the Bulldogs’ three power-play goals, Richards’ strike with 6 seconds to play in the opening period, it hurt the Pioneers in a couple of other ways.

First, it removed a player who entered the game with points in six of the past seven games (a total of 9) and one who was playing well to start Friday’s game.

Second, it left DU with 11 forwards and three centers, two of whom – McLellan and Jaakko Heikkinen – played huge minutes because of their penalty-killing responsibilities.

“It’s tough,” McLellan said. “We were down to three centers. We only dressed 12 forwards. It puts a lot of pressure on other guys. They get more minutes than they’re used to playing. We’ve got to find a way to win that.”

Denver highlights

Lee’s goal came with 7:38 to play in the first. Liam Finlay found the freshman alone in the high slot, and Lee fired it through screens by Ryan Barrow and Stapley past Shepard to make it 1-1. The tally also ended a 13-game scoreless streak for Lee.

Brink’s goal came after a show-stopping rush up the middle of the ice, capped by moving the puck under the stick of Bulldogs captain Nick Wolff. The puck deflected off a stick past Shepard 2:06 into the second.

The Pioneers dominated the last half of the third period but could not solve Shepard. DU had a 17-4 SOG edge to finish the game.

“The last 10 we got back to simplifying our game offensively, possessing pucks in the O zone,” Carle said. “We had some looks, their goaltender played well and he made a lot of key stops for them.

“It’s a good hockey team over there. They stuck together in the third to close us out. ”

©First Line Editorial 2020