The Saints scored six straight goals in the second and third periods to erase a 3-0 first period deficit as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team skated away with a 6-3 win over RPI on Saturday night in Appleton Arena.
The Saints improved to 3-6-1 on the season and 1-1-0 in ECAC play, while the Engineers fell to 2-6-0, and 2-2-0 in league play.
The Scarlet and Brown came out of the locker room fast in the contest out shooting RPI 9-2 early and not allowing a shot in the first eight minutes of the period.
Despite the strong play, it was the Engineers who would break the scoring. Danny Ciccarello scored at the 13:23 mark and was followed by Jack Agnew 26 seconds later, who scored to take the 2-0 lead. Austin Heidemann would tack on a third goal less than a minute later to give the Engineers the 3-0 lead.
The Scarlet and Brown were tagged with a penalty early in the second period, but
Ben Kraws and the Saints' penalty kill was able to shut down the attack and gain some momentum.
Shortly after the kill, St. Lawrence would go on the power play where they would cut into the lead. On the man-advantage,
Philippe Chapleau snuck the puck to
Felikss Gavars, who sauced a pass over to
Mason Waite. The Junior defensemen didn't miss, burying a one-timer past Carson Cherepak to cut into the deficit.
The Scarlet and Brown still maintained most of the game's possession throughout, outshooting RPI 18-9 at the contest's halfway mark.
At 13:51 into the period, the Saints would score again to keep the momentum rolling.
Nicholas Trela started the scoring play, dishing off to Waite in the defensive zone. The defender carried the puck all the way into the zone and found
Logan Ritchie in front of the net, who roofed the shot home to make it a 3-2 game. The goal was Ritchie's first career tally.
St. Lawrence would stay hot in the second period tying up the game with their second power play goal of the night. At 17:37 of the second, the Skating Saints moved the puck beautifully around the zone early in man-advantage, and
Luc Salem found
Justin Paul, who slammed a shot in from the near-side to tie the game at 3-3. Captain to Captain, Salem and Paul's efforts sent the Appleton crowd into a frenzy with Tomáš Mazura picking up an assist on the play.
Early in the third, the Engineers pushed back trying to get their lead back but was stonewalled by Kraws and the Saints defense repeatedly.
The Scarlet and Brown power play remained red-hot scoring their third of the game. This time it was Mazura, who would score as the junior would collect a pass from
Drake Burgin, by way of Salem, and rifled a long distance wrister over the shoulder of Cherepak to give the Saints the 4-3 advantage with less than seven minutes to go.
Late in the contest, RPI would empty their net for an extra skater and the Saints would further add to their lead. Paul and Gavars would both score unassisted empty-net goals to put the game further out of reach. The goal was the seventh for Gavars, who leads the team in goals and is tied with Mazura at ten points in ten games.
Kraws made 18 saves in 46 minutes of action, while Cherepak stopped 32 of the 36 shots he faced in the opposing goal.
The Skating Saints begin a four-game road stretch starting next weekend, when the Scarlet and Brown head to Yale for a Friday matchup, before heading to Brown on Saturday.
Â
