Veeti Miettinen scored with 2:38 remaining in overtime, and No. 4 St. Cloud State men’s hockey came back to take down No. 2 Denver, 4-3, on the road on Friday.
Fifth-year forward Grant Cruikshank skated the puck into the zone off the rush before dropping off to Miettinen, who fired a wrist shot over senior goaltender Magnus Chrona’s blocker.
Cruikshank and senior forward Zach Okabe each had a goal and an assist for the Huskies (8-1-0, 1-0-0 NCHC). Senior netminder Jaxon Castor made 24 saves for St. Cloud.
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Sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo stayed hot for the Pioneers (6-3-0, 2-1-0 NCHC) with a goal and an assist, while Chrona made 21 saves.
Senior forward Jami Krannila opened the scoring just under five minutes into the game after he was lost in coverage to the right of the crease, and was right there to jam in his third goal of the season off the rebound.
Sophomore defenseman Mike Benning evened it up late in the first period with 2:11 to go, picking the puck up in a give-and-go at the point before making a nice move to cut into the slot and burying a shot inside the left post.
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Senior captain Justin Lee scored his first of the season with 12:36 to go in the second, scoring on a wrist shot from distance that found its way through traffic in front.
Cruikshank tied it 2-2 right before the halfway mark of the third, ripping a one-timer bar-down from the top of the left circle off a feed from defenseman Dylan Anhorn.
Rizzo gave DU the lead with 2:11 to go when he reached around a defender to roof a feed from Sean Behrens, but Okabe knotted it up at 3-3 for SCSU with 1:17 to go with the goalie pulled.
The win snaps an eight-game losing streak at Denver for the Huskies.
