The Saints carried a two-goal lead into the third period thanks to goals from Felikss Gavars and Spencer Bell, but a comeback from the Bulldogs sent the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 3-2 loss versus Yale on Saturday night in New Haven, Conn.

St. Lawrence fell to 6-15-1 with the loss and 2-7-1 in ECAC play, while Yale improved to 5-11-1 and 4-7-1 in league action.

The Skating Saints were off and running in the game scoring just 59 seconds in. Isaac Tremblay carried the puck into the zone and dropped a pass to Tyler Cristall. The junior would do the same dropping it off to Gavars, who wired a one-timer over the shoulder of Noah Pak to open the scoring.

St. Lawrence nearly doubled the lead moments later when Isack Bandu found himself with space in front of the net. The junior defender didn't get all of it and allowed Pak to snare the effort.

Strong goaltending from the Saints and continued efforts from the offense were prevalent through the TV timeout. Following the timeout Cayden Casey, who suited up for his first collegiate game sent a great pass to Jacob Bernadet, who was unable to find twine. Nicholas Beneteau had the final great look in the first tipping a Jan Lasak pass off the shoulder of Pak as the game went to the break at 1-0.

The two teams traded chances in the second period, but the Bulldogs had the better two chances in the early going. A possible breakaway for Yale was sticked away by Lasak and that was followed by a great save by Mason Kucenski, who faced a less-challenging effort thanks to a play from Jake Lammens on the back end.

Despite the continued efforts of both teams the next goal would not come until the final minute of the second. Senior captain Drake Burgin skipped an outlet pass to Bell, who got the jump on a Yale defender. The first-year's first shot went off the shin pad of a defender, but Bell stuck with the play and backhanded a shot past Pak to double the lead before intermission.

The Bulldogs finally got on the board 3:50 into the third with a Lisai Pesonen shot that found its way through a screen. The Saints would get their second power play of the game after the goal but were unable to take back the two-goal lead.

Yale ended up tying the game in the second half of the frame when William Dineen took advantage of a pinch and sent a blind pass that found Briggs Gammill for a breakaway goal.

St. Lawrence, who had the only two power play opportunities of the game were finally flagged by the officials for a penalty in the final two minutes. Yale took advantage of the unfortunate call with a goal tipped in by Ronan O'Donnell.

The Saints emptied their net for an extra attacker and nearly scored when a Gavars wrist shot whistled just over the corner of the net. St. Lawrence was unable to tie the game as the game ended.

Kucenski finished with 38 saves in the loss, while Pak stopped 21 of the 23, he faced.

The Saints will head home and begin preparing for the Route 11 Rivalry next weekend.