Army junior Chad Mayfield scored his fourth goal of the season to break a 1-1 tie with 2:11 left in the third period, and the Black Knights added an empty-netter with 30 seconds left to upend Bentley 3-1 in Atlantic Hockey action Friday night.
The Black Knights defeated Bentley for the first time since November of 2001 and for the first time at the John A. Ryan Center since the 2000-01 season to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game season series.
The Black Knights got on the board first when freshman Ryan Cruthers tallied his second goal of the season on the power play at 1:40 of the first period.
Army carried the 1-0 advantage into the second frame until sophomore Paul Markarian lit the lamp on the power play at 12:02, with assists credited to rookie Kyle Larman and sophomore Josh Chase, his fourth on the season.
The two teams battled evenly in the third period, with shots 12-11 in favor of Bentley, and it looked as though overtime was inevitable, until Mayfield untied things with his even-strength tally off a nifty pass from teammate Chris Garceau.
Both goalies had solid nights in net as Falcons goalie Simon St. Pierre made 25 stops and his Army counterpart Brad Roberts made a season-high 33 stops.
Bentley fell to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in Atlantic Hockey, and Army improved to 2-0, 1-0 in conference play.
