Denver did its best work late Friday night, and in the process pulled one point closer to first-place St. Cloud State in the NCHC race.

The teams officially tied, 1-1, for NCAA purposes after Adam Plant scored on a one-timer with 3:27 to play in regulation.

The No. 4 Pioneers (17-7-7, 11-5-5-3 NCHC) picked up the extra NCHA point in 3-on-3 double overtime when Logan O’Connor‘s shot hit Huskies goalie David Hrenak, but the puck dribbled over his shoulder and into the net. DU now trails No. 1 St. Cloud by four points in the NCHC standings with three games remaining.

Plant’s blast from the high slot came off a pass from Troy Terry, who twice spun free of Huskies defenders, with 3:27 to play in regulation. It was Plant’s third goal of the season and all of them have come in the past two games meetings with the Huskies.

“What a play by Troy Terry,” Montgomery said. “I thought Adam Plant was the best player on the ice.”

It also was DU’s first goal in 130:44, since Jarid Lukosevicius struck with 14:11 to play in last Friday’s 5-1 victory at Colorado College.

Terry, who met the team in Minnesota after returning from the Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, reached 100 points in his Denver career with the assist.

“In the third I though our forwards did a better job of puck support which opened things up for our defensemen,” Montgomery said.

The Huskies (20-6-5 , 14-4-4-2 NCHC) took the only lead of regulation with 5:57 to play in the second period, when Littleton native Mikey Eyssimont‘s pass found Blake Lizotte in tight on Tanner Jaillet (19 saves). Lizotte’s shot beat Jaillet to the right post.

That was all St. Cloud could muster against the senior despite a few excellent chances in game that didn’t include a lot of open space and fine goaltending display by Hrenak (25 saves).

“St Cloud, it’s the best I’ve seen them check,” Montgomery said. “They were as good as I’ve seen them at being physical and taking away time and space.

“I thought we had our B game tonight; we’re going to need our A game tomorrow.”

Notable

Freshman center Jaakko Heikkinen missed the game because of an undisclosed injury. One of the Pioneers’ top face-off men, Heikkinen is tied for second among DU freshmen in points with 11. … The Pioneers also were without sophomore center Tyson McLellan (upper body), who has been participating in non-contact portions of practice for a couple of weeks. … Only four penalties were called, three on Denver.

Denver’s three stars

1. Adam Plant. His one-time rocket gave the Pioneers one point, then he set up Logan O’Connor’s 2OT goal for a second one.
2. Tanner Jaillet. The senior made clutch saves when needed to, giving DU a chance at points.
3. Troy Terry. His patience and skill with the puck led to Plant’s tying goal and gave him 100 in his DU career.

Up next

The teams conclude the series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. MST. NCHC.tv (subscription) has the telecast while the radio broadcast will be on 104.3 FM.

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