Rallying from an early two-goal deficit, Quinnipiac (8-2-0, 2-0-0 ECACHL) took a hotly-contested win over the Dartmouth Big Green (0-3-0, 0-3-0 ECACHL) 7-5, at the Northford Ice Pavilion Saturday night.
One night after defeating No. 15 Harvard, the Bobcats toppled the Big Green, sweeping the weekend and taking four crucial points early in the season.
Quinnipiac won the first and only game between these two teams, 2-1, last year at Thompson Arena and the Big Green were looking for some revenge. And Quinnipiac came out fired up after its win Friday night, but Dartmouth got on the board first, at 6:42 on a Tanner Glass power-play goal.
The Big Green took a two-goal advantage with another power-play goal, this time by Eric Przepiorka. Przepiorka received a pass from Glass and snapped it home on a rebound past Bobcats goaltender Wes Russell.
“Our penalty kill wasn’t very good tonight,” said Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold.
The Bobcats responded, though, with a power-play goal of their own. Matt Sorteberg and Reid Cashman played pass-and-catch for a good portion of the power play before Cashman shot the puck and Brian Leitch put home a rebound on the doorstep of the crease to cut the lead in half at 12:03.
Heading into the second, the Bobcats were riding the momentum of a power play, but scored an even-strength goal by Chris Myers. Cashman and David Marshall both tallied an assist on the goal to tie it up at 2 at 4:02.
Goals by Dartmouth’s Nick Johnson and Quinnipiac’s Marshall — his team-leading ninth — tied the score at 3, and Quinnipiac took its first lead of the game at 14:06 of the second on a Myers power-play goal. Mark Van Vliet corralled the puck in the corner and passed to Dan Henningson. Henningson shot, saved by Samuel, and Myers put home the rebound.
Jamie Bates gave the Bobcats a two-goal lead, but David Jones of the Big Green cut the lead back in half.
As the teams came onto the ice for the start of the third, Dartmouth was penalized for a protocol violation, for coming onto the ice to early. On the ensuing power play, Van Vliet scored on a rebound shot by Myers to give the Bobcats a two-goal lead.
The Bobcats added another Van Vliet goal to secure their second ECACHL victory and eighth in a row.
The unit of Van Vliet, Myers, and Marshall scored three of the four power-play goals on the night for the Bobcats.
“The power play was great, said Pecknold. We battled and felt that we wanted to get the puck to the net.
Next, Quinnipiac will visit RPI and Union while the Big Green will host Cornell and Colgate.
