Facing a team with a 1-6 record that it had defeated handily (5-1) earlier in the NCHC pod, No. 8 Denver promptly went out and was shut out by Miami, 3-0 on Thursday night at Omaha, Neb.

After an 0-3 start, the Pioneers (3-5) had a chance to even their record, but they could not finish against Redhawks goalie Ludvig Persson, who stopped all 26 shots he faced, several of the quality variety.

“We looked disconnected in stretches,” Denver coach David Carle said.

Here are three observations from the game:

Slow start

Even though the first period ended scoreless, there was no getting around the Pioneers’ listless start, something that carried over into the second period when Miami’s Robby Drazner scored his first NCAA goal from the right point just 40 seconds in.

“Their start was better, they were more desperate than us,” DU assistant captain Ryan Barrow said. “You can’t expect to get wins in the NCHC playing like that.”

If you’re a DU fan the disheartening thing about this is that the Pioneers went through something similar at the start of the pod schedule. The solution, Carle said, remains the same – “We need to self-evaluate.”

Oh no O

The O-fer means the Pioneers have scored four goals in their past three games. Why has a team that had 15 goals in its first five games slumped so much lately?

“Their goalie made some good saves,” Carle said. “They were good at keeping us on the perimeter. They did a good job on rush defense.”

Persson had something to do with it as well.

“He fought through traffic well, tracked pucks well,” Carle added.

On this night it wasn’t for lack of chances, particularly in the second period, when Denver had an 8-4 shots on goal edge.

Special teams

The Pioneers played a clean game through two periods, but that came to an end in the third, when back-to-back penalties gave Miami a 5-on-3 power play for nearly 2 minutes. DU and goalie Magnus Chrona (19 saves) stood tall and still trailed only 1-0. So that gave the Pioneers momentum to build on, right?

Following a media timeout, a turnover just to Chrona’s left ended up behind him when Matt Barry took a feed from Ben Lown all alone in the low slot and buried it 7:13 into the period.

If there is any positive, it’s that a struggling DU penalty kill took care of all three of its third period penalties. The flip side is a power play that started the season like a house-a-fire could not convert either of its opportunities.

The last word

“I thought we had our swagger back after Western Michigan. … You can’t win if you don’t have everyone pulling on the same rope.” – Barrow

Notes: Freshman defenseman Mike Benning returned to the lineup after suffering an upper body injury two games ago. … Sophomore defenseman Lane Krenzen made his season debut. … For the seventh time in eight games the Pioneers lost the face-off war, 18-29.

Next: Denver will play Western Michigan at 3:05 p.m. on Saturday before completing its 10-game run in the pod on Sunday at the same time vs. No. 9 St. Cloud State.

©First Line Editorial 2020