Bulldogs can't dig out of early hole in loss to Denver

DULUTH — Fifth-ranked Denver scored three goals on its first five shots en route to a 5-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at Amsoil Arena, chasing Bulldogs

senior goaltender Zach Stejskal

from the home net after just 6 minutes and 39 seconds.

Fifth-year

senior goaltender Matthew Thiessen

made 28 saves on 30 shots in relief of the Cohasset native. It was a solid effort by Thiessen — who has been backing up Stejskal since his last start on Feb. 3 — but not enough to prevent the Bulldogs from losing a fourth-straight game.

Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium — a potential first-round pick in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft — gave Denver a 1-0 lead after a mere 31 seconds had ticked off the Amsoil Arena game clocks Saturday while Pioneers senior wing Connor Caponi and sophomore wing Jared Wright scored within 74 seconds of each other to force UMD to make an early goaltender change.

Buium finished with a goal and two assists Saturday, helping set up Pioneers freshman wing Sam Harris for goals in the second and third periods.

The Bulldogs

trailed 2-0 and 4-2 on Friday against Denver

and fought back both times to tie the game before losing in 3-on-3 overtime.

Sophomore wing Ben Steeves and freshman center Matthew Perkins scored for the Bulldogs in the second period to cut Denver’s lead to a goal, though the Pioneers got a goal from Harris on the power play late in the period for a 4-2 advantage heading to the third period.

Steeves’ power-play goal 33 seconds into the second period was his first goal since Jan. 27, ending a three-game drought for the NCHC’s leading goal scorer. He now has 22 on the season — putting him third in the NCAA — with 12 coming via power plays.

Steeves finished Saturday’s game from the penalty box as he and freshman wing Anthony Menghini received 10-minute misconducts in the final 10 minutes of the game with UMD down by three.

UMD has six games remaining in the regular season and is on the road the next two weekends at league-leading North Dakota, and Colorado College.

The seventh-place Bulldogs, who are now 10 points back of fourth-place Denver, host second-place St. Cloud State the final weekend of the regular season on March 9-10, and if the season ended today, would travel to St. Cloud the following weekend to face the Huskies in the NCHC quarterfinals for the third consecutive season.