Photo: Courtesy Kelly O’Connor
Following last weekend’s Minnesota-Duluth series, the Pioneers (7-3-1, 3-3-0-0) had every reason to collapse when the Providence Friars (7-4-1, 4-2-0) tied the game 1-1 in the third period. With the visitors enjoying a significant face-off advantage, shots-on-goal, and penalty-minutes-served advantage, Denver overcame it all and responded with flying colors with two opportunistic goals in the third period to win, 3-1. And, again, Devin Cooley was a rock in goal for the Pioneers with 39 saves.
Denver got on the board when Les Lancaster sent a blast from the point and Colin Staub poked it in for a 1-0 lead at 16:29 of the 2nd period. Denver played nearly flawless on the power play for the night, defending the ice for 16 minutes and 59 seconds of total penalty time before the Friars found pay dirt and tied the Pioneers five minutes into the third period.
But, instead of going into a shell after giving up the lead, the Pioneers went on the attack. Jaakko Heikkinen poked in the game winner in traffic with an assist from Jarid Lukosevicius three minutes later to retake the lead. And, once again, the opportunistic Pioneers extended the lead at 12:25 of the third period with a tic-tac-toe tap-in by Tyler Ward with assists from Brett Stapley and Slava Demin. The Pioneers played smart hockey the balance of the game pushing the puck into the Providence zone and moving their feet on defense.
Denver withstood deficits in penalty minutes (17 to 12), shots (30-40) and face-offs (29-39) but none of that made any difference because Denver kept working hard and playing smart – making the most of their chances Friday night. And, the win speaks volumes of David Carle and his team learning to keep their foot on the pedal – even when Providence came back in the third period.
"We were able to apply concepts under pressure there in the third period" #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/dRcaiAoSze
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) November 24, 2018
STARS OF THE GAME
*Tyler Ward
**Jaakko Heikkinen
***Devin Cooley
The two teams return to Magness Arena tomorrow night at 7:07 PM MT.
Another outstanding performance by goaltender and bird fan Devin Cooley.
We saw some growth last night in how DU held a lead by attacking instead of sitting back. DU was opportunistic and got good goaltending, too. That will be huge down the road if the Pios continue to grow.
What holds this team back right now is that ranked teams have out shot, out-possessed and outplayed DU in the last five games, despite the scoreboards. Need to see DU grow as a puck-possession team against good teams like Providence.
Great job finishing the game last night for DU. Providence was the better team for most of the first 2 periods and DU was lucky to have that 1-0 lead going into the 3rd. But after the Friars tied it up DU seemed to find another gear, created some space, used their speed, and scored a couple of beauties. Ward’s goal, especially, was a thing of beauty after a terrific sequence of passes.
Providence is no joke. They look like a top-10 team. They did a good job taking away space in the first two periods, are tough in the corners and along the boards, and move the puck well.
Cooley was terrific again. He made big saves all night and never seems to be out of position to any great degree. I wonder if the #1 goal tending job is now his to lose….
Does anyone else think Michael Davies has taken a big step forward this season? He’s not going to overpower anyone, but I think he’s much better defensively and he remains a skilled puck mover and skater. He just seems to be a much better all around player.
Nice win. Thanks in large part by another great performance by Cooley.
Nice win. Thanks in large part to another gret performance by Cooley!