With just two-tenths of a second remaining in the third period, Shawn Fensel scored the game-tying goal for the St. Lawrence Saints to earn a 2-2 decision against the Quinnipiac Bobcats Saturday evening.
Corralling a loose puck in front of the net, Fensel banged it past Quinnipiac’s Bud Fisher. It was Fensel’s first goal of the season.
The Saints (4-5-1, 1-3-1 ECAC) scored two third period goals to earn one point in the game.
“We buckled down and tried to match their intensity and it was a very tight and physical game,” St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh said.
The Bobcats (3-3-2, 1-1-2 ECAC) got on the board first just 28 seconds into the contest. David Marshall received the puck from Mike Atkinson at center ice, came into the zone on a breakaway and snapped a shot past Saints’ goaltender Kain Tisi. Dan Henningson also had an assist on the goal.
“It was kind of a broken play and Atkinson put it in my wheelhouse,” said Marshall. “I got lucky. A lot of credit goes to Mike; he did a great job battling.”
The Bobcats doubled up St. Lawrence in shots in the period, 10-5.
“I thought we played well in the first,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold. “We played very well at times, struggled a little bit at times.”
The Bobcats took a two goal lead on a Jean-Marc Beaudoin shorthanded goal. Matt Sorteberg deflected a pass attempt by the Saints and the puck trickled out of the zone. Beaudoin came in on a two-on-one with Brandon Wong. Beaudoin elected to shoot and bounced the puck off the crossbar and in for a two goal advantage.
Just five minutes into the third period, the Saints got a five-on-three power play and capitalized on the two man advantage. Casey Parenteau deflected home a shot from Zach Miskovic at the point to cut the deficit in half with just over fourteen minutes to play in the third.
“I thought we had pretty good intensity in the third,” said Marsh. “We finally got a power play goal. We feel like we really dodged a bullet.”
Still down one goal, St. Lawrence called time out with 90 seconds remaining, looking to even the score, and did so with Fensel’s goal.
“I wanted the guys to rest a little bit [after regulation],” said Pecknold. I thought we played a pretty good overtime.”
Both teams recorded three shots in overtime, but the game remained 2-2.
