OMAHA, Neb. – No. 6 Denver scored two third-period goals to turn back a comeback bid by the Omaha hockey team, eventually winning 4-1 on Friday at Baxter Arena.

The Mavericks fell to 9-20-2 overall and 5-14-1-0/1.  They remain in eighth place, just one point behind Miami which lost at Minnesota Duluth.  The Pioneers improved to 19-8-4 overall and 11-8-2-4 in the conference, moving up to third.

Denver cashed in on its first power play of the game to take the lead.  Michael Davies beat Evan Weninger through a screen at 11:20 for his fourth goal of the year.

Just 1:06 later, Jarid Lukosevicius beat Weninger with a sharp-angle wrist shot to the top corner to put the Pioneers up 2-0 after one.

The Mavericks halved the lead just 53 seconds into the second.  Mason Morelli broke down the left wing and fired a shot on goal.  The rebound came to Taylor Ward on the right wing who snapped home his eighth goal of the season.

The Pioneers went back up by two when Jaakko Heikkinen scored on a wraparound at 2:53 of the third period.  

Cole Guttman added another at 14:06 of the third to complete the scoring.

Weninger made 19 saves while DU's Filip Larsson stopped 25 as the Mavericks outshot the Pioneers, 26-23.

The two teams will finish the season series on Saturday at 7:07 p.m.  Fans are encouraged to come early for Senior Night recognition of UNO's nine graduating seniors.

GAME NOTES:

• Ward remained tied for the NCHC scoring lead for rookies with his goal.  Denver's Emilio Pettersen earned an assist in the game, putting both he and Ward at 25 points this season.
• Ryan Jones played in his 100th career game for the Mavericks.
• Denver earned its 15th straight win over the Mavericks dating back to the 2014-15 season.

Three Stars:  1. Jaakko Heikkinen/DU – One goal, one assist; 2. Cole Guttman/DU – One goal, one assist; 3. Jarid Lukosevicius/DU – One goal.