In their first NCHC series in over a month, No. 6 Denver looked very impressive against the gritty Huskies of St. Cloud State, especially in the first game, where they won 5-1. There were bright moments in Saturday’s shootout loss, which is functionally a tie, but the defensive frailties that have been haunting the Crimson and Gold all season reappeared.
The first period on Friday night was evenly matched, but the flow of the game favored St. Cloud State. The big, veteran Huskies clogged up the neutral zone and prevented the game from turning into an end-to-end affair, which would have favored Denver.
For most of the period, neither team could get into dangerous goal-scoring positions, until St. Cloud State struck late in the period. The Huskies took advantage of an uncharacteristic giveaway by junior forward Massimo Rizzo and pounced to take a 1-0 lead.
This goal would be the last for the Huskies, as Denver came out with a vengeance in the second period, led by their star forward, Rizzo. At the end of a power play, Rizzo jumped on a loose puck and slot it in the back of the net to tie the game less than two minutes into the second period.
Denver would cash in again just over a minute later when sophomore forward Jared Wright scored a scrappy goal, taking advantage of a shot by freshman defenseman Cale Ashcroft that took a funky bounce off of the wall. This would only be the beginning of what would be a flurry of goals in the second period.
Around halfway through the period, Denver would strike yet again, with Rizzo scoring a goal with an exquisite wrist shot that beat the goaltender’s glove side. Rizzo said postgame the key to the success in the second period was “sticking to the team’s process.”
“In the first period, there were too many turnovers, but once we started playing our way things worked out well,” Rizzo said.
Rizzo leads the NCAA in points with 34 in 22 games and is a strong contender for the Hobey Baker Award.
The last two goals of the five-goal period were thanks to special teams, with Denver scoring both on the power play and on the penalty kill. The Crimson and Gold would get their fourth goal on the penalty kill when short-handed specialist, junior forward Carter King sprung sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz through on goal with a beautiful pass. Lorenz would do the rest and beat the goalie to make it a 4-1 game.
“I saw that Rieger had a bit of an advantage on the guy backchecking him and I found an angle to get it to him,” King said.
Denver is tied for the most short-handed goals in the country with seven, with Lorenz and King combining for six of them. The aggressive penalty kill has been a major asset for Denver this season. King said these short-handed goals come from “taking advantage of the opportunities you get.” King has been an ultra-productive second-line center this season with 29 points in 22 games.
The final goal of the period came on the powerplay when freshman forward Miko Matikka blasted a one-timer past the goalie to make it 5-1 with only four seconds left in the second period.
The third period was beautifully uneventful for Denver, as they shut the game down and did not allow St. Cloud State to get back in it, something that has been a problem for them at times this season.
“That was about as mature of a third period as we have had all season, which was a really good sign of growth,” Head Coach David Carle said.
Friday night’s game was arguably the best Denver have played all season, combining their explosive offense with a mature defensive performance and quality goaltending by junior Matt Davis, who has established himself as the starting goalie since coming back from an injury.
In Saturday night’s shootout loss, which is a tie for practical purposes, Denver showed a lot of positives, but they also showed some of their worst tendencies. The first period was a telling example of those issues.
Denver was dominant for the first 17 minutes of the period, getting a goal thanks to a tap-in by junior forward and the leading goalscorer in the NCAA Jack Devine, who was set up with a beautiful pass by junior defenseman Shai Buium. This goal was the exclamation point to a dominant start to the game for Denver.
However, Denver would collapse in the last three minutes of the period. Turnovers crept into their game and St. Cloud State took advantage twice in the last minute of the period. Within 30 seconds a 1-0 lead would turn into a 2-1 deficit in a huge momentum flipper.
“They pushed, but there were some turnovers by us, some poor net front coverage and in this league you get pushed and we blinked,” Carle said.
DU would bounce back in the second period, with yet another power-play goal for Matikka, who has 14 goals in his last 14 games after starting the season slowly. The talented Finnish winger has been overwhelming goaltenders with his powerful shot and has added a new dimension to this Denver team.
St. Cloud responded with two quick goals to make it 4-2 before Denver caught a break when Huskies forward Zach Okabe committed a five-minute major for hitting Matikka in the head. Carter King and sophomore forward Aidan Thompson scored on the five-minute power play to tie the game at four after two periods of hockey.
There was still just under a minute of power play time left at the start of the third period, but Denver could not get any more goals on the man advantage.
St. Cloud would dominate DU in that third period, outshooting them 18-3 and looked like the team pushing for the win. Penalties by freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger and senior forward Connor Caponi late in regulation put the Crimson and Gold in a tricky situation, but the penalty kill stood tall and forced the game into overtime.
Denver would dominate the overtime period, but could not find a winner thanks to outstanding goaltending by Huskies netminder, Isak Posch who made several outstanding saves. That forced the game into a shootout, which St. Cloud State won. However, games that go into a shootout are considered ties by the NCHC.
Denver will head on the road the next two weekends to face Omaha and then North Dakota in two pivotal NCHC series. Their next game is against Omaha on Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. on NCHC TV.
