Sarah Marchand and Gabi Jones scored 32 seconds apart to bring the game back within one and the No. 9 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team tallied two goals on the power play, but an early lead powered the No. 3 Clarkson Golden Knights to a 6-4 win on Saturday afternoon at Cheel Arena.

The Saints split the Route 11 Rivalry series with the Golden Knights, moving to 19-9-0 on the season and 12-4-0 in ECAC play, while Clarkson improved to 24-2-2 and 13-2-1.

With 12:40 to play in the first frame, Brooke McQuigge capitalized on a scramble in front of Saints' goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordström, scoring the lone goal of the first for the 1-0 lead.

Clarkson held a 15-7 edge in shots on goal after the first period of play.

The second period brought a flurry of goals to Cheel Arena.

At 2:01 the Saints took a cross checking penalty and the Golden Knights took advantage of their first power play opportunity 44 seconds in, as Nicole Gosling beat Nordström blocker side for the 2-0 advantage.

Just about six and a half minutes later, Sena Catterall would put the Golden Knights up 3-0, but the Saints responded quickly.

Marchand continued SLU's strong power play stand to put the Scarlet and Brown on the board, beating Clarkson's Michelle Pasiechnyk from the left circle, making it 3-1.

32 seconds later, Jones scored her second of the season, closing the gap even more for the Saints, making it 3-2.

The Golden Knights added two more to the score sheet before the end of the second and just 1:56 into the third period, increasing their lead to four goals over St. Lawrence.

At 4:48 of the third, Aly McLeod cashed in on a rebound, beating Pasiechnyk on the doorstep to bring the game back within three.

The final goal of the game would come of the stick of Abby Hustler. At 11:10, Clarkson's Jaden Bogden was sent off for tripping and just six seconds into the power play, Hustler tallied her 10th power play goal of the season.

Head coach Chris Wells pulled Nordström with over nine minutes remaining, but the Saints were called for two penalties and were unable to bring the game any closer, but some huge defensive stops kept the Golden Knights from scoring an empty net goals.

"It was another exciting game over here in Cheel today," said Wells. "Twice this season here it has been a back-and-forth game with lots of action and goals. We learned a lot about ourselves this weekend. What works and what needs a little TLC as we head into the stretch run of February."

Nordström finished with a career-high 43 saves for the Saints, while Pasiechnyk made 22 for Clarkson.

"We left all we had on the ice in third period when we made a late bid to get within one. It's a fun time of year as always and this weekend was just a little taste of how the games will be."

Clarkson outshot the Saints 49-26 and finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while St. Lawrence finished 2-for-3.

The Saints will host Cornell and Colgate next weekend, facing the Big Red on Friday, February 2 at 6 p.m. and the Raiders on Saturday, February 3 at 3 p.m.