ST. PAUL — Three straight overtimes in elimination games for Denver has yielded three straight wins.

The Pioneers aren’t about to question whether this is a dangerous postseason habit.

Zac Larraza’s first career goal gave Denver a double-overtime victory Friday over Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA semifinals, and Pioneers goalie Sam Brittain set a single-game school record with 67 saves.

Head coach George Gwozdecky acknowledged some concern with all the ice time logged lately by his team, laughing a little nervously when asked about it.

“But our best hockey was our overtime, and we seem to be playing better and better as the game wears on into those clutch moments,” Gwozdecky said.

Larraza pulled a rebound to his backhand and flipped it past Bulldogs goalie Kenny Ritter for the winner, seconds after Matt Tabrum’s shot hit the post. The game ended 8:14 into the second overtime, the longest WCHA Final Five tournament game in history. Larraza, a freshman on the fourth line, estimated he played no more than 10 shifts the entire game. So he had fresh legs.

Nice timing for his first college goal.

“Not bad at all,” he said, smiling as his face turned a touch of red.

Shawn Ostrow, Jason Zucker and Dustin Jackson scored to give Denver a 3-0 lead midway through the second period. But Mike Seidel’s two goals put UMD back in the game, and Jack Connolly tied it with 7:22 remaining in regulation.

“Obviously we got ourselves into a little hole but we were trying to stay positive on the bench,” Seidel said, adding “We just try to stress get that first one and go from there.”

Ritter made 45 saves for the Bulldogs (24-9-6), but the Pioneers (25-12-4) advanced to Saturday’s championship game to face North Dakota. Brittain broke the previous Denver record of 59 saves set by Pat Tierney in 1983.

“They threw everything at the net. You’ve got to give them credit for that,” said Brittain, one of three goaltenders used by the Pioneers this season.

Gwozdecky, said he’d likely play either Juho Olkinuora or Adam Murray Saturday, assuming Brittain will be drained.

Denver, the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament, was the only team that needed a third game to win the first-round series — going to overtime to beat Wisconsin last weekend. The Pioneers used the extra period to beat Michigan Tech in the quarterfinals on Thursday, too, a game they probably needed to win to ensure a spot in the NCAA tournament when the bracket is unveiled Sunday.

“It’s not an easy thing, but sometimes you find your groove when you’re in that,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said.

Defending national champion UMD held a 25-10 shots-on-goal advantage in the second period alone, but the Bulldogs couldn’t finish their rally.

Both teams had all kinds of chances in the wide-open overtime. Zucker hit a post with one shot. UMD’s David Grun had an unabated shooting lane from the slot, but Brittain knocked aside the fast-moving puck with his stick.

“It doesn’t just start like last week. I think we’ve been playing really well the second half of the season,” Jackson said.

Ostrow put the Pioneers on the board first, and Zucker — playing in his future NHL home — doubled the Denver advantage early in the second period. Zucker was drafted in the second round by the Minnesota Wild two years ago.

With Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher watching from above in his press box booth, Zucker broke free past Bulldogs defenseman Drew Olson after a turnover by UMD in the Denver zone and corralled a two-line pass from Nick Shore. Faking right and switching to his left for a backhand flip-in, Zucker scored his 22nd goal of the season. Jackson stretched the lead to 3-0 less than 3 minutes later.

But Siedel’s tap-in on a power play gave the Bulldogs and their fans some energy.

He followed that later in the middle frame with a whirl-around shot from the slot that scraped the crossbar and slid down and into the back of the net to make it 3-2. Seidel, who scored the winning goal for UMD in overtime of their first-round series-clinching victory over Minnesota State Mankato last weekend, almost had a hat trick in the closing seconds of the second period but couldn’t quite punch in a rebound before the whistle blew.

Denver’s Larkin Jacobson was ejected in the first period for a hit to the head of UMD’s Tim Smith, drawing a 5-minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct. But the Bulldogs didn’t take advantage of the extended power play.

“You can’t dwell on losses,” Sandelin said, alluding to his team’s sound footing for an NCAA tournament at-large bid: “We’re going to fortunately get another chance to play.”