Abby Hustler scored the game-winning overtime goal to complete her hat-trick, as she led the seventh-ranked St. Lawrence University women's hockey team to a 4-3 overtime victory over the seventh-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats on Friday night in Hamden, Connecticut.
 
The Scarlet and Brown improved to 22-9-0 overall and 15-4-0 in ECAC play and clinched a bye for the First Round (single elimination) of the ECAC Playoffs and home ice for the ECAC Quarterfinals. Quinnipiac fell to 22-8-1 and 13-3-1, respectively.
 
The first 20 minutes was an evenly played period with few whistles between two of the top-10 teams in nation. Quinnipiac had two power-play opportunities in the period, but the Saints' penalty kill prevented any serious Quinnipiac scoring opportunities.
 
The Bobcats led 8-5 in shots-on-goal after the scoreless first period.
 
St. Lawrence grabbed control of the game in the second period.
 
Early in the middle frame, the Saints third-ranked power-play, operating at 30.5% prior to tonight's game, got their first opportunity of the game after Kristina Bahl drew a holding penalty. On the power-play, Hustler, from the right-side of the blueline passed to Mae Batherson, who fed Anna Segedi on the left faceoff circle. Segedi's initial shot was blocked, but she corralled the rebound and sent a shot past Bobcats' goaltender Logan Angers blocker to give the Saints the 1-0 lead.
 
Segedi displayed her elite puck protection abilities and entered the offensive zone. As Segedi carried the puck into Quinnipiac's zone, Hustler slowly skated into a wide-open lane in the high slot. Segedi then fed a cutting Hustler and she beat Angers five-hole. Hustler's goal marked her 20th of the season.
 
Hustler and the Saints were not finished in the middle frame. With just under 90 seconds remaining in the period, Batherson gathered a Quinnipiac clearance attempt and fired a rocket towards Angers. Hustler was parked in front of the Bobcat goaltender and tipped Batherson's shot over Angers glove.
 
The Saints dominated the second period and went into the intermission with a 3-0 lead.
 
St. Lawrence seemingly had the game in full control, and when the Saints score first this season, they were 20-0, but Quinnipiac had other plans.
 
From the first whistle in the third, the Bobcats had the better of play. They changed the momentum the Saints garnered in the second and used it to grab their first goal of the game. Mia Lopata deflected Nina Steigauf's shot from the point that went through St. Lawrence goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordström's five-hole.

A few minutes later, the Bobcats struck again. This time, on a 3-on-2 transition rush, Jess Schryver's snipe beat Nordström over her blocker.
 
The cliché three-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey proved true on this occasion. With 3:33 remaining, the Bobcats capitalized on a puck battle along the half-boards. Madison Chantler carried the puck off the half-boards and passed to Kahlen Lamarche. Lamarche's shot was deflected in by Sadie Peart past Nordström.
 
After three periods of play, SLU outshot Quinnipiac 33-24, and for the second-straight game, the Saints were headed to overtime.
 
In 3-on-3 overtime, after SLU gained possession, captain Julia Gosling weaved through two Quinnipiac players and passed to a cutting Batherson, but Angers made a huge backdoor sliding pad save.
 
A few moments, Quinnipiac's Melissa Samoskevich's shot rang off the post to keep the game alive.
 
After some puck luck, Hustler's great individual effort sealed the game and thwarted the Quinnipiac comeback. In the defensive zone, Hustler intercepted a pass to Samoskevich on the blue line and tapped the puck forward for a clear-cut breakaway. 1-on-0 with Angers, Hustler's blocker-side snipe beat the graduate student. St. Lawrence secured their second-straight overtime winner over a top-10 team.
 
"We certainly kept it interesting tonight," said head coach Chris Wells. "We all know how hard it is to win in this league and this game was a great indicator of it."
 
St. Lawrence outshot Quinnipiac 56-47 in-attempts and 35-24 in shots-on-goal. Nordström finished with 21 saves in the win, while Logan Angers had 31 in the loss.

SLU finished 1-1 on the power-play, while the Bobcats went 0-2.
 
"We were fortunate to be up 3-0 and Quinnipiac made us pay in the third on some plays," added Wells. "They came out and beat us to pucks and created a lot of energy to tie the game up. We found a way in overtime to win with Hustler scoring a beauty to win it, clinching home ice for us in the playoffs."
 
"Another big game tomorrow at Princeton," Wells added. "They have been playing some good hockey as of late and our games are always back and forth."
 
The Saints have their final road ECAC regular season game tomorrow when they face off against No. 12 Princeton at 3:00 p.m. The contest marks the final game of SLU's seven-game stretch against ranked opponents.