John Wroblewski scored two goals and goaltender Morgan Cey recorded 27 saves to lead the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to a 4-2 win over the Princeton Tigers at the Sovereign Bank Center Saturday night.
The win gets Notre Dame back to the .500 level for the first time this season with a 7-7-4 overall record; the Irish have now won five of their six games in December. Princeton falls to 4-11-0 on the season.
Neither team scored in the first period, but there was plenty of action as both Cey and Princeton’s Dave Stathos came up with big saves as the teams combined for 22 shots. Cey made 10 saves while Stathos stopped 12.
The Irish finally broke through at the 10:21 mark of the second period as Wroblewski got his sixth goal of the season, this one coming via the power play.
Defenseman Derek Smith kept the puck in at the left point and fired a long slapshot that Stathos steered to the left wing corner. Wroblewski tracked down the loose puck and tried to center in front. The centering attempt hit Stathos in the pads and rolled into the goal for a 1-0 Notre Dame lead.
That lead didn’t last long as Princeton’s Brad Parsons scored his first goal of the season at 12:08. The senior forward took a long pass from George Parros and skated in all alone on Cey and beat the Irish goaltender with a deke sliding the puck under Cey for a 1-1 tie.
The Irish recorded their second power play of the game to take the lead for good at 18:07. For the second night in a row, Michael Chin, Tom Galvin and Connor Dunlop combined to convert a faceoff into a goal.
Dunlop won the draw back to Galvin on the left point. The sophomore blueliner fired a shot at the Princeton goal and Chin was their to redirect the puck past Stathos for his career-high eighth goal of the season.
Senior Sam Cornelius got the eventual game-winner just 2:27 into the third period. Jon Maruk controlled a faceoff in the right wing circle and outmuscled the Princeton defense driving to the goal. Stathos poked at the loose puck but it bounced around in the crease where Cornelius jammed it home for his first of the year.
Princeton got back in the game at 18:04 after they pulled Stathos in favor of a sixth attacker. Parsons found David Del Monte alone in front and his hard wrister eluded Cey to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 3-2.
Following the faceoff, Princeton was able to get Stathos off the ice with 40 seconds left but Wroblewski sent the Irish home with the win as he scored into the empty net from center ice at 19:31. The two-goal game was the first of Wroblewski’s career.
Since starting the season with an 0-4-2 record, the Irish are 7-3-2 in their last 12 games. The Irish finished the game with 44 shots on goal while Princeton fired 29 at the Notre Dame net. Stathos made 40 saves on the night while Cey had 27 stops in the victory.
