Mankato, Minn. --- Top-ranked Denver scored a pair of third-period goals in pulling away to a 3-1 win at Minnesota State Friday.
The Pioneers got on the scoreboard first while on the power play at 10:11 of the first period. Senior Tyler Ruegsegger was able to bounce a shot by freshman goaltender Phil Cook after a pass from senior Rhett Rakhshani. Sophomore Patrick Wiercioch also was credited for an assist on the play.
MSU evened things up at 11:19 of the second period when junior Rylan Galiardi dumped a pass off to senior forward Zach Harrison who fired a shot past DU goaltender Marc Cheverie. Sophomore Mike Louwerse also contributed with an assist on the play.
DU regained the lead at 6:51 of the third period when sophomore Joe Colborne redirected a shot that snuck between the pads of Cook. Freshman William Wrenn and Rakhshani picked up assists on the scoring play. The Pioneers quickly added to their lead when freshman defenseman Matt Donovan found the back of the net at 10:34 after being set up by seniors Tyler Ruegsegger and Rakhshani, his third assist of the night.
MSU, which went zero-for-four on the power play, outshot DU by a 29-20 margin in the game which was played in front of 3,723 fans.
With the loss Minnesota State falls to 14-17-2 on the year and 7-16-1 in WCHA play. Denver, which has now won its last nine games, is now 23-6-4 overall and 16-4-4 in the WCHA.
The Mavericks and the Pioneers face-off again Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Center with 7:07 p.m. start scheduled.
