Junior Matt Carle tallied two goals and an assist and sophomore goaltender Peter Mannino stopped 31 shots and added two assists as the No. 18 Denver Pioneers ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over St. Cloud State in WCHA action tonight in front of 6,038 fans at Magness Arena.
Carle tallied his 100th career point with a first-period goal as DU used two shorthanded goals, a 3-on-3 score and a power-play goal to improve to 12-10-3 overall and 9-5-2 in the WCHA. DU is tied for second in league play with Minnesota at 20 points. St. Cloud State falls to 10-9-3 overall and 5-8-1 in the league.
“This was a big win for our team emotionally,” said Denver head coach George Gwozdecky. “You could really feel a regeneration of confidence in our guys in the locker room and on the bench. With the way things have been going lately, it’s great that we were able to come out strong tonight move into a tie for second in the conference.”
DU jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period despite losing J.P. Testwuide and leading goal scorer Ryan Dingle to game misconduct and game disqualification penalties for checking from behind. Carle put DU on the board first with a 3-on-3 goal at 15:43 and T.J. Fast added his first career goal on a 5-on-3 disadvantage. Mannino set the tone early for DU by stopping all 13 shots in the period, including nine on six SCSU power-play opportunities.
In the second period, the momentum stayed in Denver’s favor when J.D. Corbin scored DU’s second shorthanded goal of the evening at 5:08. Mannino added his second assist and stopped all four Husky shots in the period.
SCSU’s Justin Fletcher scored 57 seconds into the final period to make it a two-goal game. Paul Stastny’s fifth goal on the power play made it 4-1 at 2:46. SCSU’s Andrew Gordon scored less than one minute later to make it 4-2, but Carle iced the game with an empty-net goal at 18:42.
Stastny added an assist for his 11th multi-point game of the season. DU finished 2-for-8 on the power play, while SCSU was 1-for-8. SCSU’s Bobby Goepfert took the loss with 23 saves.
