The Princeton Tigers took a 4-2 decision over the Quinnipiac Bobcats in a Tuesday night matchup at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
In the back end of a home-and-home series between the travel partners, the result was the first ECACHL loss for the Bobcats at the Northford Ice Pavilion. Quinnipiac (9-6-4, 6-3-3 ECACHL) took the front end of the series with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night.
Princeton (8-8-2, 5-6-1 ECACHL) got on the board first when Landis Stankievech recorded the early tally. Kevin Westgarth chipped the puck into the neutral zone, and Stankievech picked up the puck on the near boards, went in on Quinnipiac netminder Bud Fisher, and poked the puck over the right pad.
Quinnipiac tied the game up on the power play with Chris Myers’ first goal of the season. Greg Holt, at the point, passed to David Marshall and ripped the shot. Zane Kalemba made the save but could not find the rebound loose in the crease. Myers came in and poked home the puck for the 1-1 tie at 9:29 of the first.
The Tigers took the lead back late in the second when Brett Wilson made a nifty move through two Quinnipiac players to put the puck in the back of the net. Mike Moore fed Wilson, who made a wraparound-type move in front of the net.
“We worked hard, but did not compete hard,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold.
Darroll Powe registered the game winner at 4:16 of the third when he received the pass from Lee Jubiville on a two-on-one. Jubiville picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, went in with Powe and fed him the pass, and Powe put it past the glove side of Fisher.
“We didn’t clean up in the neutral zone, like we did on Saturday,” said Pecknold.
With 4:45 remaining in the game, Pecknold pulled Fisher in favor of an extra attacker, and the Bobcats then drew a penalty to put them on a six-on-four. They had opportunities to bury a goal, but could not as Kalemba made clutch saves to preserve the lead.
With one minute remaining, the Bobcats looked to have cut the lead in half on a Bryan Leitch tally, but the referee called goalie interference, and the no-goal followed.
On the ensuing faceoff, Princeton’s Mark Magnowski sent a puck down the ice and into the net.
“Give Princeton a lot of credit,” said Pecknold. “They competed hard and were great.”
Quinnipiac had one last effort with a Mark Agnew tally, but it was too little to late. Mike Atkinson registered his first point as a collegiate player with an assist on the goal.
The Bobcats had numerous chances of bouncing pucks in the crease and pucks off the posts, but were unable to capitalize on the opportunities.
Kalemba made 34 saves in the winning effort, while Fisher made 32 saves in the loss.
