Saints Settle For Tie as Clarkson Rallies for 3-3 Draw

Jan. 19: St. Lawrence University's five-game ECAC Hockey losing streak to arch-rival Clarkson came to an end at Clarkson's Cheel Arena Saturday night, but things could have been a lot better for the Saints.

 

SLU had a 3-0 lead 6:12 into the third period when Kyle Flanagan finished off a three-on-one rush with Greg Carey and Sean McGovern with his first career goal against the Knights, but Clarkson came roaring back, scoring three goals in a span of a little over eight minutes to snatch a 3-3 tie.

It was the first tie between the two teams since a 3-3 affair in December of 2009 leaving the Saints at 9-10-3 overall and 2-5-3 in ECAC play while Clarkson is now 4-12-6 overall and remains a point in front of the Saints in the league standing at 3-5-2.

Junior goaltender Matt Weninger came through with an outstanding night in goal, but his defensive help disappeared midway through the third period as Clarkson staged its rally. Weninger then had to protect the tie with a couple of big saves in overtime, including one on Joe Zarbo right off the draw to start the extra period.

Neither team scored in a first period which featured seven power plays between the two teams. Weninger came up big on the first Clarkson power play and the Saint penalty killers stepped it up the rest of the way, but the Saints had no success at the other end despite four opportunities and 1:40 of two man advantage.

Carey finally broke the scoring ice for the Saints as he took a lead pass from Flanagan and broke away, beating Clarkson goalie Greg Lewis on the stick side from between the faceoff dots at 9:40 of the second with George Hughes also assisting.

It went to 2-0 1:22 into the third period as Jeremy Wick scored his fifth of the season off a pretty passing play on a Saint power play, snapping a shot under the crossbar from Chris Martin and Pat Raley and the Saints looked golden when Flanagan scored his 11th of the year to complete a nifty passing play with Carey and McGovern at 6:12.

The golden look for the Saints started to tarnish when Pat Megannety put Clarkson on the board on a rebound in a scramble in front of Weninger on a Clarkson power play at 8:53. The Saints struggled in their own end and Clarkson caught some extra energy after the first goal with the Knights closing to within two at 12:50 when defenseman Alex Boak ripped a rebound back into the net off a big initial save by Weninger. Clarkson completed its comeback at 17:16 when Megannety put home his second of the night off traffic in front to knot it at 3-3.

Clarkson outshot the Saints 39-23 with Weninger making 36 saves, four of them in overtime, to come away with the tie while Lewis finished with 20 saves for the Knights. SLU went one of five on the power play while Clarkson finished one of seven.

The Saints return to ECAC action at Dartmouth and Harvard Jan. 25-26.