Princeton boasts some of ECAC Hockey’s most prolific scorers, but it was Derek Topatigh’s first goal of the season that ignited an offensive explosion and propelled the seventh-seeded Tigers to an 8-2 win over tenth-seeded Brown in Game 1 of the opening round of the league playoffs Friday.
The sophomore defenseman’s goal broke a 2-2 tie midway through the second period at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. Princeton lead 2-0 on first-period goals by Josh Teves and Ryan Kuffner, but Tommy Marchin and Alex Mehr each scored to tie the game for the Bears.
Kuffner finished with two goals and two assists, and now is second in the country with 27 goals. Five other players finished with multi-point games for Princeton, led by Teves (two goals, two assists), Max Veronneau (goal and two assists) and Liam Grande (goal and assist).
Ryan Ferland made 33 saves for the Tigers, who will look to try and close out the best-of-three series Saturday at a7 p.m.