Whatever spell Colorado College had enjoyed at Magness Arena went up in smoke on Friday.

The University of Denver broke open a tight game with two goals within a span of 33 seconds late in the second period, handing the Tigers a 4-1 defeat that ended their five-game unbeaten streak on DU's home ice dating back almost three years. 

The Pioneers, who came into the contest with only two power-play tallies for the season, doubled that total with two more during a three-goal uprising in the middle frame that came on the heels of a scoreless first.

Freshman goalie Sam Brittain made 33 saves to help Denver, now 4-3-2 overall, improve to 3-1-1 in the WCHA.

Senior right wing Stephen Schultz ruined Brittain's bid for a second consecutive shutout with 5:11 left in the contest, converting on a rebound of Rylan Schwartz's blocked shot with DU skating a man short.

CC, which tries to snap a three-game losing skid in Saturday's rematch at the World Arena, dropped to 3-5-1 overall and 1-4 in league play. The Tigers now must prevail in at least two of the remaining three regular-season meetings with their arch-rival to reclaim the Gold Pan they surrendered last spring.

Both netminders – Brittain and Colorado College's Joe Howe – steered away 13 attempts in the wide open first period. 

But, shortly after CC failed to capitalize on its fourth of six power plays for the night, the Pioneers cashed in on one of their own early in the second. Senior center Anthony Maiani, camped in the right faceoff circle, took a nice pass from sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan and one-timed a slap shot that sophomore center Drew Shore redirected inside the far post on Howe's stick side.

With 4:08 remaining in the period, and the Tigers down a man again, defenseman John Lee's blast from the left point found its way through traffic and increased DU's lead to 2-0. Junior winger Luke Salazar, who earned an assist on Lee's red lighter, made it 3-0 at 16:25 after pouncing on a loose puck in the slot. Freshman left wing Jason Zucker added an empty-net goal with 8.3 seconds remaining in the third period after Howe went to the bench in favor of a sixth attacker.

Colorado College, now 14-7-4 in 25 all-time encounters with the Pioneers at Magness, had not lost there since suffering a 3-2 setback on Nov. 24, 2007. The Tigers now are 2-1-3 at Denver since then, as well as 4-2-4 in their last 10 trips to DU.