Defenseman Blake Hillman and No. 3 Denver overcame an early deficit to defeat Nebraska-Omaha, 5-3, on Friday. Photo courtesy of Shannon Valerio, DU Athletics

Who us, worry? Apparently not No. 3 Denver.

The Pioneers spotted No. 18 Nebraska-Omaha a two-goal, first-period lead then stormed back for a 5-3 NCHC victory on Friday night at Magness Arena.

DU (17-6-4, 9-3-3-2 NCHC) scored four consecutive goals in the second period, three in a span of 2:21. The four goals matched a season high in a period, first accomplished Jan. 6 vs. Arizona State.

The victory also pulled the Pioneers to three points of first-place No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth in the NCHC standings. The Bulldogs play NCHC rival in a non-conference game in the North Star Cup on Saturday, meaning DU could pull into a tie with a sweep of the Mavericks.

After Tyson McLellan scored for the first time since Oct. 15 vs. Boston University 3:52 into the second, fellow freshman Henrik Borgstrom, as he often has this season, ignited an offensive eruption.

Borgstrom’s team-high 14^th goal with 7:04 to play in the period came on the power play and made it 2-2. The flying Fin then set up Dylan Gambrell for the go-ahead marker 1:44 later.

“He’s so long, so quick, so powerful. When he’s tenacious with pucks he takes over games,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said of Borgstrom but could have been referring to his entire team. “I think he’s unstoppable when he’s tenacious.”

Another freshman, Liam Finlay scored what proved to be the game-winner just 37 seconds later when he put his own rebound past Omaha goalie Kris Oldham (38 saves). That was Finlay’s second goal in three games.

Omaha (14-9-4, 7-7-1) entered the game with the nation’s third-best power play and it proved that was no fluke when captain Justin Parizek cashed in with the man advantage 15 seconds after Evan Janssen’s boarding penalty.

Mason Morelli, scored Omaha’s final goal with 4:50 to play, found Austin Ortega free on the back door four minutes later, and the senior wasted little time scoring his 17^th goal for a 2-0 lead just 7:44 in.

Tanner Jaillet stopped 23 of the next 24 shots he faced and 26 overall for DU, which fashioned a 43-29 shots edge.

The Pioneers weren’t ready to hit the panic button, captain Will Butcher said.

“We were moving pucks well, but taking the penalties hurt,” said Butcher, who wired DU’s fifth goal from the point on a third-period power play. “We stuck with it. We were down two but it didn’t feel like it.”

Still, the message between periods was loud and clear.

“Monty told us to stick to our game plan, that good defense would lead to offense and it did,” said McLellan, whose father Todd – the Edmonton Oilers coach – took advantage of the NHL’s All-Star break to come watch his son play. “It felt good to get the (goal-scoring) monkey off my back with him here.”

The Pioneers were 1-2-1 in their past four Friday games, and there was a strong desire to reverse that trend, Borgstrom said.

“We were losing and we didn’t want to make the same mistake we did last weekend,” he said of a second consecutive Friday night NCHC loss.

He made sure they didn’t.