The No. 3/3 University of Denver Pioneers (5-2-2, 1-2-0-0) used a two-goal third period to defeat the No. 1/1 St. Cloud State University Huskies (7-1-0, 2-1-0-0), 4-2, at Magness Arena on Friday night.
Henrik Borgström opened the scoring at 12:31 of the first period, taking a pass from Troy Terry and sweeping from left to right across the goal before lifting the puck over the left shoulder of Huskies goalie Jedd Smith. The goal gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
St. Cloud State evened the score on the power play at 5:06 of the second period, but the Pioneers would regain the lead less than five minutes later when Gambrell drove the net and slipped a pass across the slot for Jarid Lukosevicius. Lukosevicius’ goal was his second of the season and gave Denver a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Denver continued its pressure on the man advantage in the third period when Ian Mitchell took a shot from the point and Lukosevicius redirected the puck to make it 3-1 only 40 seconds into the third period. Borgström had the secondary assist on the goal.
St. Cloud’s Blake Winieki brought the Huskies to within one goal at 18:28 of the third period, but the tally was not enough to close the gap as Borgström iced the game with an empty-netter with 32 seconds remaining to make it a 4-2 final.
Tanner Jaillet made 32 saves in the victory. The Pioneers finished 1/2 on the power play and 5/6 on the penalty kill.
