No. 2 Denver was bound and determined not to become Colorado College’s latest upset victim Friday night.

The combination of the Tigers’ defense-first strategy and some excellent goaltending by freshman Alex Leclerc kept them in the game, but the Pioneers ultimately prevailed, 2-1, by tightening the screws on CC’s offense, holding it to just 15 shots on goal. It was DU’s 11th consecutive victory in the rivalry, and the atmosphere at a packed Magness Arena made it feel like the rivalry is regaining some strength.

“It’s hard to generate a north-south game where there’s a lot of pace when you’re facing three guys back all the time,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “They’re really good at how they’re playing, I give them credit. You can see why they’re playing well.

“I think our team was frustrated. We won 2-1 but I thought we played a really good team game, the type of game you have to play in order to have success against the way CC is playing. If we’re able to score a couple more goals it seemed like we could get them out of their structure.”

The Pioneers (19-6-4, 11-3-3-2 NCHC) combatted the Tigers’ strategy by sending a defenseman into rushes repeatedly. It paid off almost immediately when Will Butcher took a pass at the left point, waited for the defense to shade in his direction and fired a pass to D partner Adam Plant just in side the middle of the blue line. Plant fired a one-timer past Leclerc, who was contending with Emil Romig in front of the net, just 1:17 into the game.

“It’s kind of our game plan,” Butcher said. “Practicing this week we knew they were going to have three guys back so we’re going to have to have that fourth guy into the rush to create opportunities, and Monty’s given us the green light to do that.”

Butcher initiated DU’s second goal when his blast from the point on a second-period power play caromed off Leclerc to the right-side wall. Henrik Borgstrom tracked it down and found Jarid Lukosevicius between the circles and the winger wasted no time firing it into the net for a 2-0 lead 5:34 into the second.

By that point DU was beginning to build a massive shot advantage that ended 39-15.

The Tigers (7-18-2, 3-12-2 NCHC) took a page from the Pioneers’ playbook to get on the board with 1:46 left in the second. Defenseman Kristian Blumenschein took a pass from Leclerc and skated most of the length of the ice before finding Matt Hansen on his off wing  in the left circle. Hansen wasted little time slapping it past Tanner Jaillet.

“Once our defensemen tightened up (their gaps after the first 10 minutes), I thought we really took over the game,” Montgomery said. “They hang around, that’s how they try to win. They were hopeing for a bounce at the end, and they almost got one on that one point shot (on a late 6-on-5). It could have been 2-2.

“Tanner Jaillet is very impressive in how he’s playing considering he didn’t have that much action.”

Jaillet won his 17th game of the season and lowered his goals-against average to 1.85. He has allowed one or no goals in six of his past eight starts.

Plant’s play blooms

While Denver’s defense stood out, perhaps no one played better than Plant, who not only got his second goal of the season but blocked shots, forced turnovers and helped keep the Tigers at the perimeter much of the game.

“That’s our team mentality – sacrifice your body for the team,” Butcher said. “When a guy’s got an open shot, you go down and block it. 28 on our team, Plant, he blocks more shots than any guy on our team. He sacrifices his body, has bruises all over his body after the game but he’s going to do it every night.”

That Plant got rewarded with a goal was fitting.

“He’s been really good defensively his whole career , but it seems like his confidence offensively is really taking off,” Montgomery said. “We call him Butchie Light, he’s like a miniature Butchie out there. They’re fun to watch together.”

Terry, Borgstrom return

Troy Terry played for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury at Western Michigan on Jan. 13. The sophomore had an uneven start but gained some steam as it went along. Borgstrom battled an illness this week, missing two days of practice.

“You could see (Terry) got better as the game wore on, and I expect him to be much better tomorrow night,” Montgomery said. “He was just a little slow in his game instincts. Once he gets his speed back he’ll be fine.

“I really appreciate both of them. Borgstrom, he gutted it out. His shifts were about 28 seconds long. He doesn’t have much in the tank. He’s only been eating for a day.”

Leclerc as advertised

The Pioneers expected Leclerc to be good, but the Tigers freshman was better than good for stretches Friday night.

“His reads in the slot and what’s open on the weak side were impressive,” Montgomery said. “He made two unbelievable weak-side saves (on Butcher in the first period and Tariq Hammond about 6 minutes into the third).”

Leclerc also made a nice stop on Evan Janssen while DU was killing a penalty earlier in the third. Butcher said Plant’s goal offered a glimpse of needs to happen.

“He took up a good part of the net. He made some good saves,” Butcher said. “We’ve got to get more pucks on him, try to take his eyes away from him.”