Senior captain Ty Naaykens scored in the second period, and Greg Lapointe made it a 3-2 game late in the third with an extra-attacker goal, but the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team was unable to find an equalizer as the Saints fell 3-2 on Saturday night in the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.

St. Lawrence fell to 4-7-0 on the year and 0-2-0 in ECAC play with the result, while RPI improved to 5-4-1, and 1-3-0 in league action.

The Saints came out strong in the first period, but had to make a crucial stop early on the second shot of the game. Mason Kucenski made a tremendous effort to keep RPI off the board.

St. Lawrence went on the game's first power play shortly after and despite good pressure and chances, were unable to break the scoring.

Instead, it was RPI's Jack Brackett, who would score at 7:07 with a turnaround shot to put his team up 1-0.

The Scarlet and Brown responded to the goal with a pair of great looks. First-year Spencer Bell had the first chance with space in front of Noah Giesbrecht but was stopped on the post. Will Arquiett was next, as a Drake Burgin shot deflected and found his stick. That chance also was stymied as the score held.

Following the television break, Tomas Mazura had a pair of shots, with one being on the kill that were stopped by the Engineer netminder, and the game eventually went to intermission at 1-0.

First-year Jake Bernadet nearly equalized the game early in the second period when he deflected a shot from the point. The tip bounced off the post instead to keep him off the board. 

RPI was on the opposite end of the puck luck, as the Engineers took a 2-0 lead off a deflection. An Engineer skater threw an offspeed shot towards the net that was deflected by a St. Lawrence forward. The puck went up and over Kucenski to double their lead.

The Saints finally broke through shortly after off a great passing play. Naaykens collected an Isaac Tremblay feed and dished it off to Lapointe as they entered the zone. Lapointe returned the favor sending a saucer pass back to the captain, who buried to make it 2-1.

The two sides traded chances in the following moments with the Scarlet and Brown nearly tying the game on two occasions. Giesbrecht kept the game at 2-1 going into the break with three great saves on Tremblay, Mason Waite, and Naaykens, who nearly knotted it in the final minute.

St. Lawrence kept firing with chances from the sticks of Naaykens, Bernadet, and Jan Olenginski early but an equalizer was not found.

A pair of penalties from both sides late slowed down the pace and eventually led to the Saints pulling their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage. Waite had the best look on the man-advantage but was stymied by Giesbrecht.

The pace quickened late in the final moments as RPI took a 3-1 lead on an empty-net goal but was followed by an extra-attacker goal for the Saints. Mazura made a great play in the final 30 seconds finding Lapointe open on the doorstep. The shot squeezed through the goaltender's five-hole to make it 3-2 score in the final ten seconds, but the Saints could not gain any more traction.

Kucenski finished the game with 25 saves, while Giesbrecht stopped 29 in the home net. St. Lawrence eld the 31-28 shot advantage in the game, and both teams failed to capitalize on the power play.

The Scarlet and Brown will be back in action next weekend when the team plays host to Yale and Brown at Appleton Arena.