Led by Brandon Wong’s four point night at the TD Banknorth Sports Center, the Quinnipiac Bobcats took a 6-1 non-conference victory over the Bentley Falcons Tuesday evening.
Wong registered a hat trick and an assist in the victory for Quinnipiac (14-9-5). It was Wong’s second hat trick of the season, his previous coming at Union in November.
The Bobcats scored four special-teams goals in the contest, including three shorthanded to tie them with Michigan for most shorthanders in the nation with 12.
“It has been a different element and our penalty kill has vastly improved,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said.
Wong got the scoring started when he came down the ice on the far boards, with Jean-Marc Beaudoin trailing. Wong took a shot from the left circle, Beaudoin got the rebound and shot, and then Wong poked home the loose puck for the 1-0 lead.
Wong and Beaudoin hooked up again with another shorthanded tally, with Wong recording his second shorthanded goal. On a two-on-one Beaudoin sent a pass over to Wong, who took a wrist shot and beat Jason Kearney to the blocker side.
Quinnipiac netminder Bud Fisher played well in his 53 minutes of action, making key saves to keep the Bobcats ahead throughout the game.
“Fisher has been our number-one this year and it’s a confidence builder for him,” Pecknold said.
Wong got his third of the night, this time an even-strength goal when Beaudoin, behind the goal line, sent a pass into the slot that was tipped by a Bentley defenseman, picked up by Wong and put into the back of the net for the 3-0 lead.
“We’ve been playing the whole year together,” Wong said of his partnership with Beaudoin.
“We’ve played them together since day one,” Pecknold said. “They’ve excelled and fed off of each other.”
Bentley got its only goal of the night on the power play when Casey Russell took a shot from the point and Pat Percella deflected the puck straight down off the ice and into the net to cut the deficit to two.
But Quinnipiac took back its three-goal lead on a Jamie Bates power-play goal. Reid Cashman received the puck off a faceoff win and passed down to Leitch, and he sent it through the crease to Bates at 6:47 of the third.
The Bobcats finished off the scoring at 12:48 of the third when Chris Myers added his second goal of the season from in front of the crease on a pass from Wong. David Marshall also received an assist on the goal.
Eric Lampe added the third shorthanded goal of the night, from Michael Bordieri’s first assist of the season.
Fisher, Zach Kleiman, and Dan Cullen combined for 21 saves in the victory for the Bobcats, while Kearney made 28 in the loss.
