DENVER – Sophomore Carter King was credited with a late goal for the Pioneers and the No. 1 University of Denver hockey team defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 3-2 on Friday night at Magness Arena.
 
King scored his third goal of the season by way of an ASU own goal with 1:58 left in regulation. King's shot rebounded off Sun Devils goaltender TJ Semptimphelter and into the air where Tim Lovell knocked the puck into his own net while DU's Jack Devine provided net-front pressure.
 
The goal was originally waved off by the on-ice officials due to a high stick from Devine, but Denver (11-4-0, 6-2-0 NCHC) challenged the play and won the review, as the replay showed the puck entering the net from Lovell's glove. Arizona State then used its challenge but was unsuccessful.
 
"There were a lot of bodies in front. I threw it on net, and I saw a puck go in so I got happy," King said. "But I got a little less confident when they challenged it for a second time because you don't really know. It was good to get a good bounce. I feel like we deserved that."
 
DU had a season-high 56 shots on goal in the game, its most in a contest since having 66 shots versus Lake Superior State on Oct. 20, 2017. The Pioneers finished with 93 total shot attempts, while ASU (8-8-0) had 20 shots on 45 attempts.
 
"I really liked us throughout, all 13 forwards and six D," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman hockey head coach David Carle. "I thought our puck pressure was good. We had some looks at the net. We fought the puck at times, but we stuck with it. We didn't get super frustrated, and that is a really good sign for our team to do that. We get two power-play goals, penalty kill was perfect, and it was really big to win the special-teams battle."
 
Goaltender Magnus Chrona made 18 saves in the victory for Denver, including three big stops on an Arizona State power play in the third period to keep the game tied at 2-2 at the time.
 
Denver had to rally in the third period, as Ryan Alexander tallied on a breakaway at 3:47 to give the Sun Devils a brief 2-1 advantage. Massimo Rizzo responded by scoring on a power play less than two minutes later to even the contest.
 
Rizzo's marker came 18 seconds into a 4-on-3 and was the second of the night on the man advantage for the Pios. Mike Benning also tallied while DU had the extra man on the ice at 54 seconds of the second frame.
 
Lovell scored the other goal for Arizona State in the second period that tied the outing at 1-1.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers and Sun Devils wrap up their weekend series on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT at Magness Arena. DU will hold its annual Teddy Bear Toss during the game as part of the CBS 4 Together 4 Colorado Toy Drive.
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU is now 7-1-1 all-time vs. Arizona State and 5-0-0 at home in their history. The Pioneers have now won five straight games in the all-time series.
• Mike Benning's goal at 54 seconds of the second period marked the fastest goal to begin a period this season (Casey Dornbach, 1:13, 1st period, Nov. 5 vs. St. Cloud State).
• Benning now has three goals in the last two games.
• The Pios went 2-for-5 on the power play and scored multiple times with the man advantage for the fourth time this season .
• Carter King scored his third career game-winning goal.
• ASU's Tanner Hickey was given a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for spearing McKade Webster at 14:37 of the second period. Denver wasn't able to score on the ensuing power play.
• In honor of Alumni weekend, 2004 national champion Max Bull (2000-2004) dropped the puck pregame in a ceremonial faceoff.

 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle
On who challenged the goal: "[Director of Hockey Operations] Travis Culhane, he's upstairs. [The refs] said they thought it hit Devine's stick, and the other side is that we are two minutes away from overtime. If we lose that timeout for the final two minutes, we regain a challenge in overtime. So it was a pretty low-risk, high-reward situation. So obviously happy the refs made the call that they did."
 
On DU's power play in the game: "It was a little bit up and down at times, but they found a way to execute and get two big goals, especially the one in the third when we go down 2-1. To have that response as huge."
 
Forward Carter King
On staying with it when pucks aren't going in: "I think a lot of it is just being confident in ourselves. We know we're dictating the play. We know we're going to dominate them when we play our game. Just having trust in the group that we have and knowing that it's going to come."
 
On Arizona State's defensive game: "I thought their goalie played really well. He made some good saves on us. But I think for us, it's getting bodies to the front of the net. I feel like there were rebounds early on that we weren't getting. Once we started getting more bodies in the net, we had more success."
 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
No Scoring
 
2nd Period
0:54 DU (1-0) – PPG, After Aidan Thompson's slap shot was blocked at the right circle, Thompson gathered the puck and passed it to the high slot for Mike Benning, who found twine on his wrist shot.
6:37 ASU (1-1) – Tim Lovell knocked in a loose puck during a scramble around the Denver net.
 
3rd Period
3:46 ASU (2-1) – Ryan Alexander scored with a backhand shot during a breakaway.
5:40 DU (2-2) – PPG, Massimo Rizzo found nothing but net with a wrist shot from the high slot.
1:58 DU (3-2) – Carter King got credit for the goal after his shot rebounded off the ASU goaltender and Tim Lovell swiped the puck into his own net while Jack Devine provided pressure.
 
 
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