Ryan Poehling’s tip in midway through the 5-on-5 overtime period helped give St. Cloud State a key victory over #2 Denver by a score of 3-2 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Friday night.

The Huskies got the scoring started early, drawing a power play just six seconds into the game and capitalizing with a power play goal by Robby Jackson 51 seconds into the game. But Denver answered back with a goal by freshman Henrik Borgstrom to tie the game in the first period.

The two teams traded goals in the second period, and played a quiet scoreless third period to set up the extra frame.

Denver had a great chance early, but St. Cloud State defenseman Will Borgen was able to clear a loose puck off the goal line to continue the game. That set up Poehling, who tipped in a knee-high shot by Mikey Eyssimont to win the game.

The victory was an important one for the Huskies’ postseason hopes, as it brings them to .500 on the season, and 15th in the Pairwise Rankings, just one spot out of the final at-large bid for the tournament. The road loss didn’t hurt Denver nationally, but drops them another two points behind NCHC league leader Minnesota Duluth in the standings.

The two teams will complete their series tomorrow evening.

Notes and Thoughts

-St. Cloud State had a golden opportunity to put this game away early. They scored a power play goal in the first minute of the game to take an early lead, and had a great chance to go up 2-0 when Jack Poehling forced a turnover at the SCSU blue line and came in on a break. Poehling ripped a shot that beat Denver goalie Tanner Jaillet, but the shot bounced off the cross bar. It was one of two cross bars Poehling would hit in the first period, and one of three total hit by the Huskies in the first period.

But that first one was the big one, because shortly after, Henrik Borgstrom scored to tie the game 1-1. When there’s only five-to-six goals scored in a college game on average, there is such a huge difference between going up 2-0 and being tied 1-1.

It felt like it was going to be one of those nights where St. Cloud State ended up giving away some points because they missed out on those early opportunities to put the game away early

-St. Cloud State came out really strong to start the second period, and played the first two-and-a-half minutes in the Denver zone. But Denver was able to capitalize on their first opportunity of the period, when their fourth line dug a puck out of the corner and got it in front of the net for a goal.

Even though they lost tonight, Denver really showed why they’re such a tough team. Going strictly by talent on paper, I’m not sure Denver ranks in the top ten in the country. With Troy Terry out, they’re only dressing four NHL Draft picks, and the rest are a pretty anonymous bunch. But what they do have is a lot of a very smart, disciplined hockey players that play really hard. They were able to withstand that early punch from St. Cloud State and not give up any quality opportunities, and then when they got an opportunity, they had a guy in the right place at the right time to take advantage. That’s what makes them a top-5 team; a lot of guys in the right place at the right time.

-Once Denver got that 2-1 lead, they were able to really quiet things down. The second period seemed to fly by with not much of anything happening, until Jack Poehling scored a huge goal with under 30 seconds left in the second period.

That goal was off a shot that Tanner Jaillet more than likely should have stopped, and was a huge swing in momentum. Jaillet stopped 28 of 30 shots in the first two periods, but was pulled before the start of the third period. He had a lot of easy saves to make, and never quite looked confident doing it.

-Score one for the Corsi believers tonight. St. Cloud State didn’t generate very many quality chances tonight. Only 12 of their 73 shot attempts tonight came inside the prime scoring area, but they kept putting shots on net, and eventually they caught a break with Jack Poehling scoring on a weak shot, and Ryan Poehling being able to tip one in late. No such thing as a bad shot, I guess.

Fancy Stats

Shots on goal: SCSU: 14-16-12-1-43 DU: 8-10-7-25-1-26

Even strength shot attempts: SCSU: 26-19-17-1-63 DU: 19-14-13-5-51

Prime scoring area attempts: SCSU: 6-4-1-1-12 DU: 7-7-5-2-21

What do the numbers tell us?

I covered this above, but St. Cloud State had a big edge in possession, but wasn’t able to generate very many quality chances out of it. Most of their attempts came from the perimeter, but that strategy eventually paid off when they were able to tip one in for the winning goal.

Final Scoring

First Period

0:51 Robby Jackson from Jack Ahcan and Mikey Eyssimont (power play) 1-0 St. Cloud State

Jackson took a pass at the top of the left circle, took two strides in and picked the upper right corner over Jaillet’s glove for the goal.

2:54 Henrik Borgstrom from Jarod Lukosevicius and Dylan Gambrell 1-1 tie

Borgstrom skated the puck into the zone up the middle of the ice on a 3-on-2. He opted to keep the puck himself and wired a perfect wrist shot from the high slot that beat Smith to the glove side.

Second Period

2:48 Liam Finlay from Kevin Conley and Evan Ritt 2-1 Denver

Conley won a puck behind the goal line in the left corner and fed a puck out to Finlay in the low slot, and Finlay was able to chip the puck into the upper corner of the net.

19:33 Jack Poehling from Blake Winiecki and Will Borgen 2-2 tie

Winiecki gave the puck to Poehling on the left wing on a 3-on-2. Poehling took a low shot along the ice that snuck through the pads of Jaillet for the goal.

Third Period

None

Overtime

2:27 Ryan Poehling from Mikey Eyssimont and Patrick Newell 3-2 St. Cloud State

Eyssimont took a knee-high wrist shot from the top of the right circle that Poehling was able to deflect with his stick past Cowley for the goal.