BURLINGTON, Vt. — Matt Donovan and Drew Shore scored two goals each Friday night as Denver rallied to beat Vermont 5-3 in the season opener for both teams.
“I thought we did a lot of things well,” Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. “Our penalty killers were very good, especially Adam Murray. We leaned on our seniors tonight, and it’s nice to start the season with a win.”
Wahsontiio Stacey scored all three goals for Vermont. His second goal, at 6:08 of the second period, gave Vermont a 2-0 lead. But Shore answered on the power play, and Donovan netted the next two goals to put the Pioneers up for good.
After Jesse Martin gave DU a two-goal lead 9:38 into the third period, Stacey scored at 17:50 to pull the Catamounts within a goal. But Shore added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left to secure the victory.
Murray finished with 27 saves for Denver.
Denver 0 2 3 — 5
Vermont 1 1 1 — 3
First period — 1, Vt, Stacey 1 (Burrows, Bruneteau), 6:15 (pp). Second period — 2, Vt, Stacey 2 (Bruneteau, Stalberg), 6:08. 3, DU, Shore 1 (Maiani), 10:43 (pp). 4, DU, Donovan 1 (Maiani, Martin), 18:47 (sh).Third period — 5, DU, Donovan 2 (Olszew- ski), 6:31. 6, DU, Martin 1 (Salazar, Ostrow), 9:38. 7, Vt, Stacey 3 (Downing, MacKenzie), 17:50 (extra man). 8, DU, Shore 2 (unassisted), 19:28 (en). Shots on goal — DU 7-5-8 — 20. Vt 8-9-13 — 30. Power-play opportunities — DU 1 of 1; Vt 1 of 7. Goalies — DU, Murray 1-0-0 (30 shots-27 saves). Vt, Mador 0-1-0 (19-15).
Attendance — 4,007. T — 2:15.
