Cooper Pierson scored his first career goal, and Colin Winn made a career-high 47 saves. Still, the Saints' third-period comeback effort fell short as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team fell 4-2 on Saturday night against No. 9 Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn.

St. Lawrence fell to 2-11-1 overall with the loss and 1-5-0 in ECAC play, while the Bobcats improved to 9-3-2 and 3-1-0 in league action.

The first-year netminder Winn, who was making his second career start, was the star of the first period for the Saints. Quinnipiac came out firing, putting 15 shots on frame in the first, but the newcomer stood tall to the task, stopping every chance.

In their limited chances, Sam Frandina and Gunnar Thoreson had chances on the goal, but the game went to intermission at 0-0.

The Saints opened the second period on the kill and, after completing the penalty kill, went on the offensive with five shots in 59 seconds. Andrew Brown, Filip Juříček, Sam LeDrew, and Evan Mitchell combined for the five chances, but Matej Marinov kept St. Lawrence at bay.

The tie was broken at the 5:42 mark of the first when Markus Vidicek scored for the Bobcats. Quinnipiac doubled its lead to 2-0 moments later when Mason Marcellus picked up a rebound and scored near the crease.

St. Lawrence went on to the penalty kill two more times in the second, and after killing off the first, Aaron Schwartz scored a power play tally for the Bobcats to make it 3-0 ahead of the third period.

The third period began at a torrid pace with both teams scoring in the opening minute and six seconds. After a Marcellus tally just 45 seconds into the period, Tyler Cristall had the puck below the goal line for the Saints, where he skipped a pass to Luke Santilli at the blue line. The first-year defender fired a shot on net that was deflected in by Pierson to make it a 4-1 game.

The goal was the first for Pierson, who leads the team with seven assists this season alongside Cristall.

St. Lawrence continued to hunt for goals and to try to get into the game. The team had a chance on the power play near the midway point of the period, but despite the buzzing attack around Marinov, the Saints couldn't find twine.  

Winn made a highlight reel save with less than eight minutes to go in the game to keep the game alive, and St. Lawrence used the momentum to score late in the third.

Armed with a power play and an extra attacker, the Saints' Cristall rimmed a puck around to Juříček, who passed the puck to Cayden Casey on the top of the unit. The sophomore sent a tricky pass back to the winger, who one-timed a slap shot past Marinov, who could only hear the puck beat him on the near shoulder.

The Saints once again pulled the netminder, but a blocked shot and a shot off the post from Thoreson ended the game at 4-2.

Winn made the most of his night, stopping a career-high 47 shots in his second career start. Marinov was only able to come up with 17 saves on the 19 shots he faced.

Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play on the night.

The Skating Saints will be back on the ice next weekend when they head to the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid for the Adirondack Invitational. St. Lawrence will open the weekend on Friday, November 28, at 4 p.m. against Alaska Fairbanks, then will play Saturday at 4 p.m. against UMass Lowell.