The final score was not indicative of the Denver-Lindenwood game Friday night at Magness Arena. The visiting Lions created a number of Grade-A scoring chances, clogged up passing lanes and controlled the tempo for much of the game. Who else but Jaxon Rudolph broke open the tight game in the third period with an even-strength goal, 4-2, Denver. A shorty by Denver and an insurance tally sealed Lindenwood’s fate, final score 6-3.

Lindenwood played a solid first period, keeping pace with DU. The Pioneers found paydirt with an outside strike from Blake Fiddler, 1-0. DU goalie Tyler Krivtsov made some solid saves in the period to maintain the narrow lead. The Lions outshot DU 13-11 for the period. 

Denver opened the second period with the man advantage and a lightning strike from Kyle Chyzowski, 2-0. At 16:03, DU almost buried a nifty back pass and shot from Brady Milburn but the Lions goaltender, Liam Beerman, swallowed the point blank snipe. Just when it felt that Denver was gaining momentum, the visitors extinguished the buzz. The Lions countered from the left offensive circle with a seeing-eye wrister from Ethan Zielke, 2-1. Exactly a minute later, a Denver turnover after a faceoff resulted in a shot on Krivtsov and rebound, buried by the Lions Caden Brown, 2-2. DU quickly countered a minute later on the rush and a backdoor deposit by Brady Milburn, 3-2, at 10:06. The Pioneers were outworked the last half of the period. Despite the lead, DU trailed on shots-on-goal 24-18 and the Lions were playing with speed and confidence.

Denver started slowly to open the third period, a carryover from period two. The Lions clogged passing lanes and created dangerous chances. Denver was struggling to clear the zone and Lindenwood was threatening to climb back into the game. Suddenly, at 11:08, a snipe from the right circle through traffic by Daxon Rudolph  over Beerman’s shoulder found the upper corner of the cage and doubled the DU lead, 4-2. An unassisted DU breakaway and shorthanded snipe by Jake Fisher at 2:56 buried the Lions. 5-2, under a three-goal deficit. In the waning minutes, a breakaway down ice gave the Lions a face-saver at .55 seconds on a Jake Delaney target, 5-3. DU polished the final stat sheet with an even strength goal by Mikey Berchild, to seal the final score at 6-3. 

#3 Denver moves to 8-2-1 overall, 4-0-0 in-conference.

The two teams clash again Saturday night at 6:00 pm MT at Magness Arena.