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OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha coach Dean Blais described Denver’s pair of goals in the second period as “déjà vu.” Just like Friday and every other loss this season, Omaha gave up the first score and never gained control, and the No. 6 Mavericks fell to No. 17 Denver 4-3, getting swept at home for the first time this season.
It was Denver’s first sweep since its series against Colorado College in early November.
Like Friday, Denver did the most damage in back-to-back fashion. After both sides skated scoreless for one period of play, Denver’s Evan Janssen wrapped around the net and backhanded a shot across goaltender Kirk Thompson at 12:19 in the second period. Then, 25 ticks later, Gabe Levin scored on a loose puck in front of the net from Colin Staub’s attempt to make it 2-0.
Omaha again managed to outshoot the Pioneers in every period, finishing at 28-18, and saw a fair share of chances. The pivotal point came when Omaha had a full two minutes of five-on-three power play, but with two dings off the post and few whiffs, it wasn’t able to put the puck in the net.
“Story of the game was the no goals on the five-on-three,” Blais said. “We hit two pipes, and missed two wide-open nets. You’ve got to capitalize on those situations.”
To open the third period, Denver’s Danton Heinen scored from the right point to push the game to 3-0.
Frustration spread from the ice to the stands, as more boos than cheers bellowed throughout Baxter Arena during the chippy contest that was much of the second period and the start of the third.
Despite Denver adding to the lead to start the third period, the Mavericks seized the period to flip the momentum in their favor.
Steven Spinner scored the Mavericks’ first goal of the series when he caught a piece of Justin Parizek’s blast from the center point behind the circles to make it 3-1 at 4:20 in the third. 39 seconds later, Jake Randolph whipped around the net and scored his wrap-around attempt to make it a one-goal game.
Denver punched back when on a power play Dylan Gambrell hammered home a rebound amid chaos near the net to push the cushion back to two goals at 8:37 in the third.
While Mason Morelli scored a backhander off a rebound from another Justin Parizek blast at 15:50 in the third, the Pioneers held strong to complete the series sweep.
With hot goaltending, a low number of shots and more penalty kills than power plays, it was a case of déjà vu for the Pioneers, too.
“Yeah, it was very repetitive of last night; I did think we played a lot better of team game tonight than we did last night,” Denver coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought we possessed the puck a lot more and I thought our puck decisions, puck support was a lot better than last night.”
Omaha, on the other hand, while taking more shots and putting together a strong comeback effort in the third, regressed in a game where blown coverage and missed chances overshadowed the late-game scores.
“We left guys wide open in front on poor coverage [like] we haven’t done in a while,” Blais said. “Give them [Denver] credit for making plays, they’re skilled enough to makes plays and here we are sitting, going into North Dakota who’s 18-2-2. So if you’re a betting man, you’re going to bet on North Dakota. We’ve got to have a good week at practice and eliminate some of things that went on this weekend.”
The weekend victories will help the Pioneers get back on track in the NCHC after a rough stretch coming into this series. As the first opposing team to not only get a win, but a sweep in Omaha this season, it made for a successful trip in more ways than one for the Pioneers.
“Well, it gives us experience to draw from positively,” Montgomery said. “It’s the first time where we faced a lot of adversity and we’ve been able to overcome it with our effort, execution and emotion.”
Omaha now takes on a stretch that takes it to Grand Forks before coming home for a series versus Miami.
“We have to have a total team commitment; we had one guy on every line, and maybe one or two defenseman each night that had bad games,” Blais said. “You saw in the third period switching all the lines around, that’s because we eliminated a guy that wasn’t going. Next thing you know, we’ve got three goals. That shouldn’t happen at this time of year. That’s called we’ve got too many passengers.
“I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t want to be on the ice this week.”
