No. 2 Denver played a very un-Pioneer-like game Saturday night at Magness Arena, but it still emerged with a nail-biting, 6-5 victory over Wisconsin.

The game had something exciting for everyone except the goaltenders, who faced a barrage of 87 shots.

Ahead 6-3 just 5:29 into the third period after Troy Terry finished off a Tic Tac Toe power-play sequence with Henrik Borgstrom and Dylan Gambrell, the Pioneers (9-2-3) watched the Badgers rally behind two power-play goals that came after Evan Ritt was whistled for a 5-minute, checking-from-behind penalty and given a game misconduct to boot.

“It has to be a one-goal game,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said of the Pioneers’ sixth one-goal game already this season. “We find a way. We’re finding a way to win games differently, and that’s a hard game to win when the momentum turns like that, and it turned hard. To regroup it shows how much leadership we have and poise and calmness on the bench and executing those last six minutes.”

After Wisconsin (7-5) got to 6-5, Montgomery pulled Tanner Jaillet (26 saves) and inserted senior Evan Cowley, who had not played in the past 11 games and promptly faced the Badgers’ firing squad.

“It’s fun because you get some shots early,” Cowley said. “They were pressing, I didn’t have to sit around too long.

“I’ve been out of there for a while. I’ve been itching to get in for a while and contribute, and the guys were battling hard in front of Tanner all night and it was great to get in and help out a bit.”

Cowley made 11 saves in the final 7:36 to slam the door and increase the Pioneers’ unbeaten streak to 12 games.

“I love how Evan Cowley is a great teammate, he’s been working his rear end off and he comes in and he wins us a game,” Montgomery said. “He had to make several key saves.”

Jaillet has been money all season – allowing no more than three goals in any game, and giving up just 12 in his previous nine starts coming into the weekend. He allowed three to Air Force on Friday before Saturday’s five spot.

“He’s been on an incredible run,” Montgomery said. “To me, it looked like he just got tired. I thought about changing him after the fourth goal, and after the fifth one I had to.”

Outshot 20-9 in the first period, Wisconsin generated 33 shots in the final two periods. The Badgers’ push did faze the Pioneers, Borgstrom said.

“It’s a weird feeling sitting on the bench when they’re scoring goals, getting closer. I think we know how to win hockey games right now,” he said. “I don’t think anybody has to step up on the bench. We all know what we have to do to get a W.”

Borgstrom had two goals and an assist, Gambrell added three assists and Terry had two helpers. Freshman Michael Davies scored the first goal of his college career midway through the second period, one that gave DU a 4-2 lead that must have felt like it was a decade ago by the time Cowley came in.

Balance

The Pioneers are showing signs of regaining their scoring balance. That Borgstrom, Terry and Gambrell were all over the scoresheet comes as no surprise. But DU got contributions from several others.

Colin Staub and Jarid Lukosevicius lit the lamp Friday, and Matt Marcinew, Will Butcher and Davies  scored Saturday. Butcher scored for the first time in seven games, and Marcinew for the first time in five.

That development this weekend didn’t come as a surprise to Montgomery.

“We had more rush chances in the last two games than we had in any other games in the year,” Montgomery said. “We’re going to have to keep doing the same drills we did early in the week to continue to move the puck. There’s some forwards that haven’t been rewarded for their hard work or their opportunities. They need to get rewarded for it.”

Defense rests

Denver came into Saturday night having not allowed more than three goals in a game all season. The Badgers got that in the third period.

Wisconsin’s 42 shots also were by far the most the Pioneers have allowed this season. Ohio State generated 33 in DU’s season-opening loss.

Time and again the Pioneers struggled to clear the zone in the third period, and the Badgers’ ample power-play time didn’t help matters. Wisconsin went 3 for 7 with the man advantage.

“Wisconsin made some great adjustments to our penalty kill, and we saw looks or formations our guys hadn’t seen yet,” Montgomery said. “Guys were wide open because (our) guys didn’t know who they should have. We weren’t very good on our PK forecheck, which led to easy entries, which led to a lot of possession time. Wisconsin’s really good on the power play.”

The Pioneers weren’t bad either, scoring twice in seven chances.

Early exit

Ritt’s hit, which helped open the door for Wisconsin’s comeback, was another post-game topic of discussion. The senior brings a physical element to DU’s fourth line, but probably brought too much of one.

“It’s a learning curve. He hasn’t played a lot of games (a total of 20),” Montgomery said. “We’re winning 6-3 and you go in, if you see numbers at all (you can’t hit him), and I haven’t seen the hit. I thought it was on the back shoulder but the kid goes down.

“We’ve had two 5 on 3s, they’re going to give us a five-minute major. You can’t just do it. It’s a young man that’s a great teammate, who’s very intelligent person and just being super aggressive, and made a mistake.”

Notable

Three Pioneers had the opportunity to play against the flagship school from their home state. Butcher is from Sun Prairie, just outside of Madison, freshman Kevin Conley is from Wausau, and assistant captain Evan Janssen, who is out because of an upper body injury, is from Green Bay. A fourth DU player, freshman Tyson McLellan, played junior A hockey with Madison of the USHL last season. …

Round 1 of the Gold Pan takes place next weekend. DU travels to Colorado College on Friday before playing host to the Tigers on Saturday. CC (3-9) lost to Air Force, 6-3, on Saturday after falling to Wisconsin, 2-1, on Friday.