The DU Pioneers suffered their first overtime loss of the season on Friday night, dropping a 3-2 decision to the SCSU Huskies at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Denver was outshot by St. Cloud State 43-26 on the evening, marking the team’s highest SOG deficit of the season.

“Hats off to the Huskies – they were the superior team tonight,” Denver head coach Jim Montgomery said following Friday’s loss. “They outworked us, they outhustled us and they had control of the puck for the majority of the game. Hopefully this game was an aberration and we can regroup and come out with a much better effort tomorrow night.”

St. Cloud State took an early 1-0 lead on Friday as sophomore forward Robby Jackson scored on the power play at the 0:51 mark of the first period to register the seventh goal of his season. The visitors pulled even 2:03 later when Florida Panthers prospect Henrik Borgström (Helsinki, Finland) deftly used a pair of SCSU defenders as a screen as he rifled a high wrist shot to the back of  SCSU’s net, improving his 2016-17 goal total to a baker’s dozen in the process.

Denver took a 2-1 at the 2:48 mark of the second period, with a lower slot-dwelling Liam Finlay (Kelowna, B.C.) burying a feed from classmate Kevin Conley (Wausau, Wis.) to tally the second marker of his freshman campaign. The hosts pulled back even courtesy of first-year center Jack Poehling, who scored in transition in the final minute of the middle frame to send Friday’s intraconference showdown into its second intermission with the proceedings deadlocked at two apiece.

Period No. 3 saw DU make a goaltending change as senior netminder Evan Cowley (Evergreen, Colo.) replaced junior Tanner Jaillet (Red Deer, Alta.) between the pipes for the Crimson & Gold. An ensuing goaltending duel between Cowley and St. Cloud State’s Jeff Smith (19 combined saves) sent the game to overtime. The Huskies proceeded to score midway through the extra frame to take the decision by a 3-2 final.

The Pioneers (15-6-4, 7-3-3-2 NCHC) and Huskies (11-11-1, 6-8-1-0 NCHC) will clash again at the Brooks Center on Saturday (6:00pm MT – 104.3 FM The Fan, NCHC.TV).

Featured Image Credit: Denver Pioneers