The Western Michigan Broncos (5-3-1, 2-0-0-0) scored three (3) goals in a span of 43 seconds in the third period to defeat the University of Denver Pioneers (4-2-2, 0-2-0-0), 7-4, in Lawson Arena on Saturday night.
Henrik Borgström helped the Pioneers take the first lead of the night, capitalizing on the power play after receiving a pass from Ian Mitchell and firing a shot from the right circle over the glove of Broncos goalie Austin Cain. The goal gave Denver a 1-0 lead at 8:52 of the first period. Troy Terry also had an assist on the play.
The Pioneers extended their lead to 2-0 with only seven (7) seconds remaining in the first period as Dylan Gambrell fired a shot to the glove side of Cain to take a two-goal lead before the first intermission. Terry and Michael Davies had assists on the goal.
Denver took a three-goal lead at 5:43 of the second period when Liam Finlay and Jaako Heikkinen connected on a two-on-one rush. Jarid Lukosevicious had the secondary assist on the goal that forced Western Michigan to replace Cain with Ben Blacker.
Western Michigan began chipping away at the Pioneers’ lead with five (5) minutes left in the second period. First, at 16:37 of the second period, Colt Conrad sent a pass to Wade Allison who finished to make it 3-1. Only 1:03 later, Allison walked around a Pioneers defenseman and beat Jaillet to make it 3-2.
The Broncos used their momentum from the second period to score back-to-back-to-back goals starting at 8:21 of the third period. The goals from Hugh McGing, Paul Washe and Allison were separated by only 43 seconds and transformed a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead for Western Michigan.
Allison added his third goal of the night at 13:03 of the third period. Jade McMullen notched an empty-netter at 16:32 of the final frame to make it a 7-4 final.
Borgström extended his point streak to seven (7) games and Terry extended his point streak to five (5) games.
The Pioneers finished 2/6 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill. Jaillet made 28 saves.
