No. 5 Denver committed the cardinal sin of allowing not one but two goals in the first and last minutes of a period Friday night, but a calculated risk paid off as the Pioneers staged a furious rally to pull out a 5-4 overtime victory over Miami at Oxford, Ohio.

And it was DU’s captain that spearheaded the charge. Senior Cole Guttman scored twice in the final 3:03 of regulation with Magnus Chrona pulled for an extra attacker to tie it, then the center set up defenseman Mike Benning for the winner with 1:57 left in overtime.

Guttman’s tallies gave him 11 goals this season and five in the past three games. His first came when he redirected Sean Behrens‘ point shot. The tying goal came with 11.7 seconds left after Bobby Brink found Guttman in the slot with a pass from the left corner.

Guttman, handling the puck to the right of Miami goalie Ludvig Persson (40 saves), located Benning on the back door for the winner. It was Benning’s ninth goal of the season.

Savage goals set Pioneers back

The Pioneers (17-5-1, 10-3 NCHC) found themselves in need of a rally after a player with an action hero-sounding name if ever there was one – Red Savage – struck twice to give and extend Miami leads.

Savage’s first goal came with just 15 seconds to go in the first period after Cameron Wright had tied the score only 76 seconds earlier with his second power-play goal of the first period. It was Wright’s team-high 15th goal of the season.

Savage’s second goal came only 23 seconds into the third period when a rebound bounced off Chrona to the right doorstep, where Savage alertly jumped on the loose puck and scored.

Chrona, who made 15 saves, had his shutout streak end at 198 minutes, 10 seconds. when Miami’s Hampus Rydkvist scored the first of his two power-play goals with 5:06 to go in the first period. Rydkvist struck again just 15 seconds later.

Wright’s first goal came with 8:06 to play in the first – kicking off the five-goal blitz.

Notes: Senior forward Ryan Barrow played his 150th career game for the Pioneers. … DU outshot the hosts 45-19 and had a total shots edge of 73-40. … The Pioneers went 2-for-8 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

©First Line Editorial 2022