No. 3 Denver sustained consecutive losses for just the third time this season in a 5-1 NCHC defeat at Omaha on Friday.

Coupled with last Saturday’s loss at Western Michigan, the Pioneers have dropped three of their past four games after a 10-0-1 run to start 2022.

Omaha (20-13, 10-11 NCHC) seized a 3-0 lead in the first period that included power-play goals Ty Mueller and Brandon Scanlin, and extended it to 4-0 before Ryan Barrow scored in the third period. And empty-net goal provided the fifth Mavericks goal.

The defeat continued a handful of alarming patterns for a squad with designs on a deep NCAA Tournament run.

The past four weekends have featured an uneven performance by the Pioneers (22-8-1, 15-6 NCHC).

Last weekend, it was a 6-4 Saturday loss to WMU. The previous Saturday it was a 3-2 loss to Minnesota Duluth in which the Bulldogs struck twice late in the third to hand DU its only loss at Magness Arena. The previous Friday it spotted St. Cloud State a 3-0 before rallying for an 8-5 win. And the Friday before that, NCHC bottom feeder Miami took DU to overtime before the Pioneers prevailed 5-4.

In each of those games, the Pioneers struggled on the penalty kill. Western’s power play was 3-for-8, Duluth’s was 1-for-3, St. Cloud’s was 2-for-4 and Miami’s was 2-for-4.

And Magnus Chrona again struggled, stopping just four of 26 shots on goal. In the aforementioned games he allowed five on 20, three on 24, five on 24 and four on 20.

It’s was a far cry from when DU swept Omaha by a 9-2 cumulative margin in early January. Game 2 of that series also kicked off a three-game shutout run by the  junior goaltender.

There are three regular-season games left. Denver sits four points behind first-place North Dakota, likely safe in second and easily in line for a top-two seed in an NCAA Regional.

However, the Pioneers, who lead the nation in scoring, have some things to work out before March. Friday provided more evidence of that.

©First Line Editorial 2022