Top-ranked CC beats Denver

Finally, Colorado College felt something.

By the looks of the postgame huddle around goaltender Richard Bachman, it felt good.

Recharged from an unconventional off-day, the top-ranked Tigers won 3-2 over rival Denver on Sunday at World Arena.

"The fact that we were able to hang onto the lead tonight and get the win, it's big," said defenseman Ryan Lowery, who scored the game-winner.

After three consecutive ties, including a 2-2 tie Friday at Denver, the Tigers were starting to become numb - and frustrated.

"It's kind of an empty feeling," said Lowery, who, like center Andreas Vlassopoulos, netted his first goal of the season. "You're not happy because you didn't win and you're not as mad as if you lost."

Bachman made 40 saves to push his series total to 84 and helped put the Tigers within a point of capturing the Gold Pan - given to the winner of the season series between the rivals - for the third straight season.

In front of a standing room-only crowd of 7,661, CC remained unbeaten at 5-0-3, its best start since 1995-96 (also 5-0-3), while No. 4 Denver dropped to 4-2-1.

By the end of the first period, CC had scored as many goals as it had in each of its previous two outings.

On the Tigers' second power play, Vlassopoulos forced a turnover at the blue line and took the puck wide before cutting to the net and threading a pass to left wing Scott McCulloch, who beat goaltender Marc Cheverie to the far post.

Vlassopoulos scored with 42 seconds left in the first when he freed his stick from a Denver defenseman long enough to beat Cheverie with a near-side slap shot.

Denver answered 7 minutes into the second period when center Tyler Bozak collected a blocked shot by CC left wing Bill Sweatt and tucked it inside the left post to make it 2-1.

Nearly 7 minutes later, Lowery converted a pass from right wing Nick Dineen to give the Tigers a rare two-goal cushion.

Though Denver center Tyler Ruegsegger's goal made the score 3-2 with 5:16 left in the third, there was no getting past Bachman, who made a full-split glove save with 55.9 seconds left to hold the Pioneers to two goals for the second straight game after they had averaged 4.8 in their first five.

Bachman's early season heroics - the sophomore has a 96 percent save percentage and 1.24 goals-against average - have been the bedrock of the Tigers' stalwart penalty kill, which allowed Denver only one power-play goal in 19 chances in the series.

Ruegsegger's wrist shot from the left circle is only the second man-advantage goal CC has allowed (61 of 63).