The Denver Pioneers have one last chance to end their regular season home schedule with a victory after Friday night's 4-3 loss to the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. These two teams will take the ice one last time at Magness Arena on Saturday night.
The Fighting Sioux took the 1-0 lead at 7:07 in the first period when Corban Knight netted his 12th goal of the season. Move ahead to the second period at 7:21, Denver's Paul Phillips committed one of the most costly of penalties: a tripping penalty that resulted in a penalty shot. Danny Kristo put the puck past Sam Brittain for the 2-0 lead.
Carter Rowney and Stephane Pattyn made it 4-0 in favor of North Dakota by the middle of the final frame. At that point, Adam Murray replaced Brittain in net and kept North Dakota off the board, though he faced just three shots.
At 14:34, Drew Shore finally put the Pioneers on the board, but the team didn't strike again until the final minute of the game. Joey LaLeggia scored the first goal before Jason Zucker made it a one-goal game with 11 seconds left to play.
Sam Brittain faced 32 shots and stopped 28 of them. The Pioneers, however, struggled in the first period with just four shots on net. They put up 11 and 14 in each of the next two periods, but Brad Eidsness stopped 26 of those 29 shots.
Puck drops on Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. MT.
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