Cayden Casey opened the scoring, and Rasmus Svartström scored his first career goal, but three power play goals against and a pair of empty-netters sent the St. Lawrence University Men's Hockey team to a 5-2 season-opening loss to Niagara on Saturday night at Dwyer Arena.

St. Lawrence fell to 0-1 with the loss, while the Purple Eagles improved to 1-0.

After weathering an early storm, the sophomore Casey got the Saints on the board early. At the 4:56 mark, the Skating Saints kept the puck in at the blue line and Andrew Brown corralled the puck. The first-year chipped a pass up to Casey, who burnt the goalkeeper below his blocker to make it a 1-0 game. Brown picked up his first career point with the assist. 

St. Lawrence had three power play chances throughout the rest of the first period, but wasn't able to double the lead.

Niagara was able to answer early in the second period, cashing in on the power play at the 4:19 mark. The Saints were flagged for another infraction in the middle stages of the frame, and Marshall Finnie struck for his second goal of the game to give the Purple Eagles the lead.

The Scarlet and Brown had to weather a big storm to end the second period of play, but Cameron Smith and the Saints kept it a one-score game with 20 minutes to play.

Niagara extended its lead midway into the third with another power-play tally, this time from Declan McDonnell.

Svartström scored his first career goal with less than three minutes to go to make it a game. The first-year gathered the puck near the blueline and fired a shot through a Casey and Gunnar Thoreson screen to make it a 3-2 contest late.

Niagara scored a pair of empty-net goals in the final minutes to quell the comeback effort and make it a 5-2 final.

The junior goaltender Smith made 30 saves in net for the Saints in his first collegiate action, while Niagara's Deivs Rolovs stopped 20 shots to earn the win.

St. Lawrence went 0-for-5 on the power play in the effort, while the Purple Eagles went 3-for-6 with their chances.  

The Skating Saints will be back in action tomorrow when the team heads to Buffalo, N.Y., to take on Canisius University in a 5 p.m. matchup.