DENVER Peter Boyd broke a 3-3 tie with 2:13 remaining in the third period to give visiting Ohio State University (2-3-1, 1-2-1 CCHA) a 4-3 victory over the No. 2 University of Denver Pioneers (4-1-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) in front of 6,059 fans at Magness Arena on Saturday night.

 

“I thought Ohio State played very well. I give them a great deal of credit for their play after we were coming back in the second period,” Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said. “That being said, it is October 25. There’s still a lot of hockey to go and there’s a lot of improvement to go. We have a big series to prepare for next weekend against CC.”

 

A trio of Pioneers scored second-period goals, while netminder Marc Cheverie (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) stopped 27-of-31 shots.

 

“To me, Marc was our best player throughout the weekend,” Gwozdecky said. “He is giving us what we need. You can only expect the goaltender to do so much. We need to play better hockey in front of him, but that will work its way out.”

 

Ohio State took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Chris Reed tallied his first goal of the season on the power play 5:05 into the game. Sergio Somma and Ian Boots assisted on the tally.

 

Denver scored three straight goals in the second period before Ohio State registered its second goal of the evening.

 

The Pioneers netted the equalizer 1:52 into the second period. Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.) beat OSU goaltender Cal Heeter on a shot from just inside the blue line. Maiani received assists from linemates Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta) and Kyle Ostrow (Calgary, Alberta) on his fourth goal of the season.

 

Joe Colborne (Calgary, Alberta) scored his first collegiate tally off a feed from Luke Salazar (Thornton, Colo.) at the 3:26 mark before Patrick Wiercioch (Maple Ridge, British Columbia) capitalized on a 5-on-3 Denver power play to give the Pioneers a 3-1 lead just 5:13 into the period.

 

OSU cut DU’s lead to one heading into the second intermission. Zac Dalpe scored on a power play effort with 45 seconds remaining in the middle frame.

 

The Buckeyes netted a pair of third period goals to take the 4-3 victory over the Pioneers. Corey Elkins evened the score at 3-3 just 2:02 into the third stanza, and Boyd tallied the game-winner for OSU with 2:13 to play.

 

Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) rang a shot off the right pipe with 30 seconds remaining and Heeter made a pair of saves in the final minute to hold off Denver.

 

The Pioneers out-shot the Buckeyes 39-31 in tonight’s game after being out-shot by the visitors 42-36 in Friday night’s game. Both teams went 2-for-8 on power play opportunities on the evening.

 

Denver concludes its season-opening six-game homestand against No. 1 Colorado College at Magness Arena next Friday, Oct. 31.

 

Notes: With 17:54 remaining in the second period of tonight’s game, J.P. Testwuide (Vail, Colo.) rang the puck off the glass in DU’s end, shattering the glass and delaying the game about 15 minutes...The Pioneers are off to a 4-1 start ...Denver has scored at least three goals in all five of its games this season, outscoring its opponents by a 24-16 margin on the season...Ostrow, Maiani, Salazar and Patrick Mullen (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Salazar each extended their season-opening point streaks to five games.