Brown scored two third-period goals, including one with under a minute remaining, to come back from a two-goal deficit and force a 2-2 tie with No. 17 Rensselaer in an ECAC Hockey game in front of 4,783 fans at the Houston Field House.
Brown (0-1-2; 0-0-2 ECAC Hockey) got the game-tying goal at 19:42 of the third period as Jeff Prough took the puck, went in front of Engineers senior goaltender Jordan Alford and put the puck past him to tie the game. Ryan Garbutt and Chris Poli picked up the assists. Brown had pulled goaltender Dan Rosen for an extra attacker to try to score the goal.
After a scoreless first period, the Engineers (5-2-2; 0-0-2) scored twice in the second frame for a 2-0 lead. Senior Andrew Lord tallied the first when he redirected a centering pass from defenseman Christian Jensen past Rosen from just outside the crease. Jensen was sent streaking up the right side of the ice on a long pass from Jonathan Ornelas, who was credited with the secondary assist on the goal, which came at 6:19.
Ornelas made it 2-0 at 14:18 when he stick-handled past a defender and scored on a wrist shot from the slot. Freshman Bryan Brutlag earned the primary assist and Lord the secondary.
Brown cut the lead to 2-1 with a nice rush by Matt Vokes. Vokes went up the wing and blistered one over the stick of Alford. Sean Hurley and Matt Palmer picked up assists.
Rensselaer’s Alford, stopped 27 saves in the tie. He had a personal shutout streak of 172:01 stopped. Rosen finished with 20 saves on the other end for Brown.
“In the first two periods, I thought the pace and the game was totally controlled by us,” RPI coach Seth Appert said. “We had numerous chances at 2-0 to break them. We didn’t execute — some of it due to Rosen making some very good saves, some of it due to lack of crispness offensively. We played tired, but our intensity and effort were there all weekend.”
RPI, which is now unbeaten in six straight games (4-0-2), plays again next Friday night at league foe Harvard. Brown also returns to the ice on Friday when Colgate visits Providence. Both games begin at 7pm.
