A tight 2-2 game gave way to a late goal and two empty-net tallies as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team fell 5-2 to Clarkson on Friday night in front of 2833 fans at Appleton Arena.

St. Lawrence fell to 6-16-1 on the year with the loss and 2-8-1 in ECAC play, while the Knights improved to 14-7-2 on the year and 8-3-0 in ECAC action.

The heated rivalry got started early with the visitors finding the scoreboard 43 seconds into the game. A turnover fell to the stick of Arton Martino, who found Trey Taylor for the goal.

The game was knotted less than six minutes later with a goal for the Saints. Reilly Connors held the puck in the zone and eventually found senior captain Philippe Chapleau at the point. The senior blueliner wired a shot through traffic and over the shoulder of Ethan Langenegger to make it a 1-1 game.

A penalty call near the midway point of the first period sent the Knights to the game's first power play. Clarkson took advantage of the chance as Jared Mangan found the back of the net to make it a 2-1 game and the score held at the intermission.



After being on the kill twice in the first period, the Saints finally got a chance on the power play and made the most of it. Two minutes and twenty seconds into the second period, Connors and senior captain Drake Burgin combined to get the puck to Tyler Cristall at the left circle. The junior did the rest, firing a wrist shot off the far post and in to tie the game at 2-2.

St. Lawrence nearly took the lead on numerous occasions throughout the rest of the second amassing 14 shots on goal and controlling the action, but the game would stay tied as it went into the final frame.

After two high-flying periods of hockey, things settled in for the third as the teams looked for the lead with both teams combining for just 17 shots.

The tie lasted until 18:28 had elapsed in the third period when a Tate Taylor pass was deflected in by Martino to make the score 3-2.

The Saints pulled the goalie for the extra-skater on two occasions but both chances ended up in their net to make the score 5-2.

Mason Kucenski had 27 saves in the effort, while Langenegger had 35 on the other side.

St. Lawrence held the 37-32 edge in shots on goal, and both power play units went 1-for-3 in the contest.

Both teams will be back in action tomorrow as the Route 11 Rivalry swings back to Potsdam for a 7 p.m. game at Cheel Arena.