Junior center Blair Clarance scored two goals and set up a third as St. Lawrence broke a three-game losing skid with a 5-1 win over Princeton in an ECAC game Saturday night.
The Saints, who had lost three in a row by a single goal, two of them in overtime, improve to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the ECAC. Princeton is winless at 0-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
The Saints, who have had trouble scoring in their first six games, broke out for their biggest even-manpower night of the season against the Tigers and bounced back from a tough 2-1 loss to Yale on Friday to earn their first ECAC win of the season.
“I think it was important for us to respond the way we did,” said Saints coach Joe Marsh. “We worked hard Friday, but couldn’t convert. Tonight we were able to put the puck away when we had the chance, and we were able to get on top early.
“We don’t want to get to low about the losses and too high about the wins, but this one said something about the character of the guys we have on the team. They really did a great job working the puck down low.”
The Saints jumped out to the early lead in the game as senior defenseman Ray DiLauro fired a hard shot from the point which Princeton goalie Dave Stathos stopped, but Robin Carruthers picked up the rebound and put it back into the net at 6:16 for his second goal of the season. Clarance then made it a 2-0 game with his third of the season, tipping a shot by defenseman Jeremy Cormier past Stathos at 12:59.
The Saints made it 3-0 just 1:21 into the second period when fifth-year senior Andy Marchetti picked up a rebound off a shot by Jack O’Brien and tapped it back past Stathos. The rest of the period was scoreless, even though it was filled with power-play chances. Each team had over a minute of five-on-three power play and the Saints killed off a major penalty in the period.
Princeton foiled Saint freshman goalie Kevin Ackley’s shutout bid when David Del Monte snapped home a rebound for his first of the year at 13:24 of the third, but Clarance answered that with his second of the night on a slap shot which beat Stathos cleanly at 14:58, and sophomore center Rich Peverley went end-to-end to finish the scoring with his second of the season at 17:25.
“Kevin did another great job in the nets. He really came up with some big saves right after Princeton scored and then we gave him some breathing room,” said Marsh.
Ackley finished with 35 saves for the Saints while Stathos had 38 for Princeton.
