SENIORS USE LATE HEROICS TO RALLY SAINTS TO A TIE IN BIG RED FREAKOUT

TROY—Late game heroics by Max Taylor and Kyle Rank and another outstanding performance by freshman goaltender Alex Petizian helped St. Lawrence salvage a 3-3 tie in Rensselaer’s Big Red Freakout on Saturday night as the Saints came away with a three-point road weekend on their Capital District trip.

The Saints were down 3-1 and were struggling in the third period of the game with the Engineers, but Taylor lit the fuse with a power play goal with 5:22 to play and Rank tied the game less than a minute later. The Saints then had shots to win it in regulation, but needed two big saves in the final seconds of overtime from Petizian to earn the tie.

The Saints were playing in the Big Red Freakout for the fifth time in program history and had won its last two when playing as visitor in RPI’s annual Freakout. The Engineers took a 12-0-4 streak in Freakout games into Saturday’s contest, which was played before a sold out Houston Field House crowd of 5,152.

St. Lawrence, now 12-9-2 overall and 8-2-1 in the league, were the last team to beat RPI in its Freakout, and the Engineers, 6-1-7, 2-6-4, are now unbeaten in 17 consecutive Freakouts.

“It certainly wasn’t our best night of the year, but you have to be happy that we were able to scrap back and get a tie out of it,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “We missed some great chances to build a lead and really put them back on their heels, and they took advantage of the opportunities they had.”

The Saints quieted the crowd early in the first period, grabbing a 1-0 lead on a tip-in by junior Mark Wallmann. Jordan Hack took the puck from a defender along the side boards and Wallmann worked his way in front of RPI goalie Mathias Lange. Hack snapped a shot toward net and Wallmann redirected it inside the far post for his second of the year at 7:34.

The Engineers came back to tie it up on a controversial goal at 18:13. The puck hopped out of the Saint zone and Jake Morissette took off on a two-on-one break. Petizian made two big saves, first on the initial shot and then on a rebound, and the puck seemed covered, but it ended up in the net and referee Alex Dell ruled it a goal after a lengthy conversation with his assistants and despite Saint protests that it has been batted in with a hand. Andrei Uryadov was credited with the goal, his seventh of the year.

The Saints, who missed some golden opportunities to take a lead in the second period including a couple of wide open nets, fell behind on a shot which caromed off skates in front of Petizian after a failed Saint clear. Andrew Lord was credited with the goal, his second of the season, at 14:28.

The hole looked huge for the Saints just 3:19 into the third period when Paul Kerins was all alone in the short slot and gunner his sixth of the year past Petizian to make it a 3-1 game,  but the Saints eventually got back on track.

Taylor scored his second power play goal of the weekend on a shot from the top of the circle at 14:38 as Derek Ross worked the puck down to him and he snapped a rising shot past Lange with Kevin DeVergilio also assisting and Rank tied it up on a quick shot off a feed by Sean Flanagan with Derek Keller also assisting at 15:22.

Lange came up big on a shot by Zach Miskovic with 14 seconds to go and then stopped Brock McBride in tight with six seconds left to force the overtime.

The Saints had a power play in overtime, but RPI came up big on the kill and SLU needed a big save by Petizian, who finished the night with 24 saves, on Oren Eizenman with 22 seconds left to hang on to the point.

“Alex stole a road game for us last night and came up big again tonight,” said Marsh. “We’ve got a little momentum going, but we’ve got some real big ones coming up at home.”