Saints Rally in Third for 2-1 Win over RPI
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Tara FreemanGeorge Hughes battles a RPI player for the puck in Saturday's Saint win
Stymied by Rensselaer goaltender Allen York in the second period, St. Lawrence received goals from seniors Jeff Caister and Mike McKenzie just 1:49 apart in the third period to earn a 2-1 ECAC Hockey victory at Appleton Arena Saturday night, handing RPI its first league loss.
The Engineers were seeking their first sweep of the North Country teams since 2005 and their second straight win at Appleton Arena in addition to maintaining their perfect start to ECAC play, but it wasn't to be as the Saints rallied from a 1-0 deficit after two periods to gain a split of its weekend series and improve to 6-4-1 overall and 2-2-0 in ECAC play. RPI, which had won three straight to open league play, is now 7-4-1 overall and 3-1-0 in the ECAC.
The win did not come without its anxious moments for the Saints, who outshot RPI 30-7 over the final 40 minutes of regulation. RPI pulled York for an extra attacker with 1:54 to go and were awarded a power play with 1:31 left, but the Saints did a tremendous job of killing off the six-on-four advantage and did not a shot to get through to goalie Kain Tisi. SLU spent the final 25 seconds of the game in the RPI end, just missing the empty net twice.
Tisi picked up his second win of the season in his second start after playing a period of scoreless relief in each of the last two games. It looked like it was going to be another of those typical Tisi starts...solid goaltending, but lack of offensive support...until the Saints broke through in the third period.
"Kain has played well coming off the bench the last couple of games and did well in his earlier start. He didn't see a lot of action tonight, but made a couple of real big saves down the stretch in a game in which every save is a big save," said Saint coach Joe Marsh.
The Engineers scored the only goal of a fast-paced first period as junior center Chase Polacek took a pass from freshman Brandon Pirri near the top of the left faceoff circle and whistled a power play wrist shot past Saint goalie Kain Tisi at 17:00.
The Saints put a barrage of pucks on York in the second period, outshooting the Engineers 21-3, but York stopped them all to keep it a 1-0 game through 40 minutes.
The Saints rallied despite being down a couple of key forwards on their top line. Kyle Flanagan missed the game with a shoulder injury sustained in the Union game and Jerry Cunningham left the game late in the second period. Aaron Bogosian stepped into the center slot with Mike McKenzie and Pitsikoulis and assisted on both Saint goals.
"Aaron had a big weekend for us...he was tremendous last night and played another big game tonight," said Marsh. "It was a very good effort across the board in an excellent hockey game. It was a big one for us to get from a confidence standpoint."
Caister, a senior defenseman, pinched in and scored the game-tying goal on the power play as he picked up a rebound of an initial shot by junior Nick Pitsikoulis and snapped it into the upper corner for his second of the year at 6:05. McKenzie then scored the eventual game-winner at 7:54 as he cut in front of York and deflected a pass by Pitsikoulis off the shaft of his stick and past York for his fourth of the year.