Four second-period goals propelled Bentley College to a 4-3 win and a weekend sweep of Canisius Saturday night in Atlantic Hockey action at Buffalo State. Junior goaltender Ray Jean made 30 saves and allowed just three goals on 59 shots over the weekend to earn the back-to-back wins.
With the win Bentley captured the season series with Canisius for the first time and improved to 11-14-5 overall and 9-10-5 in the AHA, while Canisius fell to 9-20-1 and 7-16-1. The Falcons remain in possession of the fourth seed and final home-ice playoff spot with just four games remaining in the regular season.
Bentley scored the opening goal of the game 4:20 into the second period on the power play through leading scorer freshman Anthony Canzoneri . A shot by Jaye Judd from the right point was deflected by Canzoneri in front of the net past Max Buetow for Canzoneri’s 24th point of the season.
The lead would be two just 1:05 later as freshman Jeff Gumaer netted a shorthanded goal. Gumaer stripped a Canisius defenseman of the puck and skated in alone on Buetow, beating him with a quick wrist shot low to the near side for his team-leading 13th goal of the season.
The Falcons piled on a third goal less than three minutes later when freshman defenseman Casey Russell blasted a slap shot over Buetow’s glove-side shoulder and just under the cross bar. After Buetow saved the first Bentley shot of the period, the Falcons proceeded to score on the next three shots.
Canisius grabbed a goal back with 5:29 to play in the second period for the Griffs first goal of the weekend in just under 95 minutes of play. Billy Irish-Baker got the puck in front of the net, but Jean made a pad save on his effort from the doorstep. Irish-Baker collected the rebound and slotted past Jean for his seventh goal of the season.
Bentley added a fourth goal with 3:40 to play in the second period to move the lead back to three goals. Gumaer gained the Canisius blue line and flipped a shot on goal. Buetow made the save but pushed the rebound directly to senior co-captain Paul Markarian, who jammed home the rebound.
Canisius cut the lead back to two goals 5:34 into the third period when Michael Cohen picked up a turnover in the Bentley zone and shot past Jean from the slot. Canisius scored with 24 seconds remaining with the extra skater to get back within a goal on Irish-Bakers’ second goal of the night, but was unable to put any real pressure on the Bentley goal after the puck was dropped following the goal.
A night after a 1-0 Bentley win, the first period Saturday night remained in the same form with neither team able to capitalize on the scoring chances created. Bentley came closest to scoring eight minutes into the game when a slap shot from Russell at the right point was deflected by traffic in front of the net over Beutow’s shoulder and off the far post and back underneath the Canisius goaltender.
