CANTON, N.Y. — In the first meeting between the two teams this season, No. 12 Yale held off St. Lawrence for a 3-2 win.
The Bulldogs outshot SLU 36-27.
Yale dominated the first period, leading in shots 13-5 and getting a power-play goal from senior Ryan Obuchowski to carry a 1-0 lead into the first. Obuchowski’s slap shot from the point hit a SLU defender’s stick on the way to the net and deflected past Kyle Hayton’s shoulder.
The Bulldogs continued to dominate possession throughout the first period and barely let SLU establish zone presence on the Saints’ lone power play of the period.
Yaleopened the second period strong as well, scoring just 11 seconds in. A neutral-zone turnover by the Saints gave Joe Snively a chance in the low slot, and he capitalized to give Yale the 2-0 lead.
The Saints had three power-play opportunities in the middle frame, but the Bulldogs kept the Saints off the scoreboard with the extra skater. However, Carson Cooper’s penalty carried over into the third, and Yale couldn’t stop SLU to open the final period.
St. Lawrence scored 46 seconds into the period when Alex Hagen tipped Eric Sweetman’s point shot past Alex Lyon to narrow the Bulldogs’ lead to a lone goal.
Ted Hart put the Bulldogs up by two goals again at the 11:30 mark of the third, which stood as the game winner for Yale. A dump in careened off the end boards and found its way to the freshman, who fired it past Hayton.
“I was kind of falling behind and saw that the puck bounced off the end boards and went right to the middle,” said Hart. “I skated hard, tried to beat the defenseman and just tried to beat the goalie. I think it helped us relax and sort of play our game.”
The Saints again narrowed the lead to a single goal with less than three minutes remaining in the contest. Nolan Gluchowski attempted a shot from the point, which was blocked in the slot, but popped right to Sullivan. His quick wrist shot beat Lyon between the blocker and pad.
“I just tried to put it on net, since we didn’t have a lot of time left,” said Sullivan.
Despite a flurry of chances to conclude regulation, the Saints couldn’t beat Lyon a third time to force overtime.
Lyon finished with 25 saves, while Hayton made 33.
“We didn’t play well enough in the first 40 minutes and that’s why we are coming out of here with a loss,” said Sullivan.
“We didn’t play a full 60 minutes, and when you don’t do that, you leave things to chance,” said St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel. “We didn’t have the desperation we needed at the beginning of the game, and it’s hard to find that desperation in the middle of the game.”
“They were pretty desperate towards then end and had a strong flurry, but I thought our guys were just as desperate for the win,” added Bulldogs coach Keith Allain. “I think we played well, but we can be better. Our best hockey is ahead of us.”
