SATURDAY ROUNDUP: No. 3 Denver beats No. 2 North Dakota in OT, No. 1 Boston College bounces back against Northeastern, No. 4 Boston University sweeps Merrimack, No. 5 Quinnipiac sails past Union

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Massimo Rizzo’s one-timer leads to Carter King’s OT game winner for Denver over North Dakota (photo: Jamie Schwaberow/Clarkson Creative Photography).

In gritty, come-from-behind fashion, No. 3 Denver beat No. 2 North Dakota 3-2 in overtime, earning a split on the weekend and pulling to within three points of second-place North Dakota in the NCHC standings.

On the game-winning goal, Massimo Rizzo intercepted a North Dakota pass in the Denver zone and connected with Zeev Buium for a 2-on-1 opportunity. Carter King, the third man crashing in, picked up the rebound on Rizzo’s one-timer to end the game.

The Pioneers played from behind for much of the night. Late in the first period, Cameron Berg gave North Dakota a 1-0 lead after one. Aidan Thompson tied the score for Denver at 4:38 in the second, but Hunter Johannes made it 2-1 for North Dakota at 3:08 in the third.

Eight minutes later, it was Buium who tied the game again for the Pioneers from Thompson and Tristan Lemyre.

Freddie Halyk had 29 saves in the win as the Fighting Hawks outshot the Pioneers 31-22.

No. 1 Boston College 3, Northeastern 1

On goals from Gabe Perreault, Will Smith and Lukas Gustafsson, Boston College bounced back from its Friday loss to Northeastern with a solid win to earn the split in Hockey East play.

Trailing the Huskies 1-0 on Alex Campbell’s goal for Northeastern late in the third period, the Eagles tied the game on Perreault’s goal from Smith and goaltender Jacob Fowler on the power play at 5:45 in the second.

Smith’s game-winner from Aram Minnetian and Perreault came early in the second period.

Fowler finished the night with 25 saves. In net for the Huskies, Cameron Whitehead stopped 31 as Boston College outshot Northeastern 34-26.

No. 4 Boston University 5, Merrimack 2

Nick Zabaneh’s first goal of the season — shorthanded at 7:27 in the third — broke a 2-2 tie as the Terriers went on to beat the Warriors 5-2.

Merrimack led 2-1 after the first but Boston University scored three unanswered in the third period, beginning with Jeremy Wilmer’s at 2:13 to tie the game. Zabaneh and Quinn Hutson led the Terriers in scoring with a goal and assist each, and Mathieu Caron had 23 saves in his 10th win of the season.

With their sixth straight conference win, the Terriers solidify their place at the top of the Hockey East standings heading into the midseason break.

No. 5 Quinnipiac 5, Union 0

The Bobcats finish the first half of the ECAC season undefeated (7-0-1) with their 5-0 win over Union.

Sam Lipkin led Quinnipiac with two goals. Christophe Fillion had the game-winning goal at 1:11 in the second.

After a scoreless first period, Fillion’s goal was the first of three Bobcat goals scored within the first five minutes of the second period. CJ McGee scored 38 seconds after Fillion’s goal, and Lipkin made it 3-0 at 4:30 with his first goal of the night.

Quinnipiac’s final two goals of the night were empty-netters, Victor Czerneckianair’s at 16:51 in the third followed by Lipkin’s second marker of the game at 17:57.

Vinny Duplessis made 23 in his second shutout for Quinnipiac and the sixth in his collegiate career. In net for Union, Kyle Chauvette stopped 30-of-33 shots he faced.

No. 6 Wisconsin 6, Ohio State 1

The Badgers completed their weekend sweep of the visiting Buckeyes with a 6-1 win to follow Friday’s 3-0 game.

Six different Badgers scored including Quinn Finley, whose penalty shot gave Wisconsin a 3-0 lead at 3:18 in the third. The goal is the fourth of the season for the freshman.

Ohio State used three goaltenders in the game. After allowing four goals on 17 shots through the first 26:34, Logan Terness was replaced by Reilly Herbst. Herbst allowed two goals in the remainder of the second period. In his first action of the season, Kristoffer Eberly played the third period, stopping all 10 shots he faced.

Kyle McClellan stopped 21-of-22 for Wisconsin.

With the six-point weekend, the Badgers move to within four points of first-place Michigan State. The Spartans did not play this weekend.

Ohio State is still seeking its first Big Ten win of the season.

No. 18 Penn State 6, No. 7 Minnesota 3

After losing 4-1 to Minnesota Friday, the Nittany Lions rebounded with a 6-3 home win over the Golden Gophers.

The Nittany Lions scored twice within a minute in the middle of the first period and never looked back. Reese Laubach’s goal at 11:07 gave Penn State the 1-0 lead, followed by Ryan Kirwan’s goal at 12:01.

Kirwin would score again at 10:19 in the second to make it a 3-0 game. Rhett Pitlick cut Penn State’s lead to two goals at the end of the second. The Gophers chased for the rest of the game but never came closer than that.

Jacques Bouquot’s unassisted goal at 10:06 in the third held up to be the game-winner.

In his seventh game for the Nittany Lions, Noah Grannan made 23 saves for his third win of the season.

Penn State outshot Minnesota 43-26. In net for the Gophers, Justen Close made 37 saves.

Colgate 4, No. 16 Cornell 2

After losing 4-2 to Cornell Friday, the Raiders turned the table on the Big Red for a 4-2 win of their own to split the series.

Jake Schneider and Brett Chorske each had a goal and two assists, and Reid Irwin’s second goal of the season at 1:16 in the third was the game-winner.

Ryan McGuire had the empty-net goal at the end of the game, in spite of Ondrej Psenicka’s attempt at a diving save.

Carter Gylander made 24 saves in the win, his fifth of the season.

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