Michael Garteig made 23 saves and Matthew Peca added two assists to lead No. 13 Quinnipiac over No. 20 St. Lawrence 2-1 on Friday night at High Point Solutions Arena.
“[Garteig] was great all night,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “I thought he was excellent. He’s playing well and he’s a big reason for our success right now.”
Garteig improved to 18-6-1 on the season with the victory. Soren Jonzzon and Landon Smith each netted goals for the Bobcats.
Kyle Hayton stopped 31 shots in a losing effort, falling to 16-10-2 with the loss. Sean McGovern scored the lone goal for the Saints.
“I wasn’t real happy the way we played tonight,” said St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel. “We didn’t compete to the level we usually do. [Quinnipiac] did and I thought they played very well tonight.”
St. Lawrence jumped out to a fast start, scoring just under six minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead. Christian Horn stole the puck from Danny Federico at the St. Lawrence blue line and broke into the Quinnipiac zone alone. Horn missed the net, but the Saints kept possession in the Quinnipiac zone. With the Quinnipiac defense out of position, Ryan Lough centered the puck to McGovern, who was positioned in the slot. McGovern quickly shot the puck on goal and beat Garteig high to the glove side for his seventh goal of the season.
“I didn’t love our first period; I thought it was our weakest of the night,” said Pecknold. “But our guys responded in the second and it’s a credit to our leadership. Federico and Peca have been great as captains. We really had no fear that we were going to lose that hockey game.”
Quinnipiac tied the game eight and a half minutes into the second period. Peca picked off a clearing attempt by a St. Lawrence defender and quickly moved the puck to Jonzzon high in the slot. Jonzzon turned and fired a slap shot past the glove side of Hayton for his fifth goal of the season.
Two and a half minutes later, Smith netted the eventual game-winner for the Bobcats. Peca skated into the neutral zone and moved the puck to Smith, who skated over the blue line and wristed a shot over Hayton’s blocker for his 13th goal of the season.
“Those two goals were a little unusual goals for Kyle Hayton to give up,” said Carvel. “Some pucks from the outside, one he was a little screened. I thought in the third period we gave it a shot but our second period was sloppy and those two goals, we haven’t been giving up goals like that through this stretch.”
Quinnipiac outshot St. Lawrence 13-8 in a back-and-forth, scoreless third period.
“We didn’t sense any panic at all because we knew we weren’t playing well,” said Peca. “It’s been kind of a reoccurring thing that we haven’t been good in the first period. So we knew we were going to come out and have a better second period and have a great end of the game.”
