Junior right wing Chris Line scored a goal and added an assist to lead Clarkson to a 3-2 win over Colgate before 2,966 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
The Golden Knights, who have won six of their last seven games including four straight, improved their record to 17-9-3 overall and clinched home-ice for the upcoming ECAC playoffs with a 12-5-2 league mark. With three games remaining in the regular season, Clarkson is in second place in the league, trailing St. Lawrence by just one point.
Clarkson jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just 1:51 into the first when Line lifted a shot on net from the blue line that sailed over the shoulder of Colgate freshman netminder David Cann, who never saw the shot.
The Red Raiders got it back on the power play at 5:05, stopping the Knights’ string of successful penalty kills at 28. One of the top-scoring defensemen in the ECAC, senior Cory Murphy, snapped a wrist shot from the slot through traffic for his seventh-goal of the season to tie the game.
The Knights struck again early in the second on junior David Evans’ 10th goal of the season at 1:31. Evans took a pass from Line in the left circle and fired a low shot just inside the near post for his sixth goal in the past five games to put Clarkson ahead 2-1.
Senior Murray Kuntz gave Clarkson a 3-1 lead when he one-timed a pass from freshman Jean Desrochers in the left circle for a power-play goal at 11:04 of the third. The Red Raiders made it a one-goal game on junior Etienne Morin’s goal at 14:09.
The Knights outshot the Red Raiders 29-20. Sophomore Mike Walsh posted 18 saves to gain his 12th win of the season in the Clarkson goal, while Cann made 26 stops for Colgate (9-18-4, 7-11-1 ECAC), which fell to 11th place in the conference.
The Knights were 1-of-5 on the power play, while Colgate was 1-of-2 with the man advantage.
