Third-ranked Miami scored goals just under three minutes apart midway through the third period and sophomore goaltender Jeff Zatkoff made 45 saves as the RedHawks snapped St. Lawrence’s five-game win streak with a 4-3 win at SLU’s Appleton Arena Friday night.
Miami won its fourth straight and improved to 11-4-0 on the season. The Saints, 4-0-1 in their last five meetings with Miami, are now 6-4 after playing their fifth one-goal game in a row.
“That was a tremendous hockey game,” said Saints coach Joe Marsh. “It was one we certainly would have liked to have won, but Miami is a great team with outstanding talent and I think both teams played excellent hockey.”
The Saints jumped out to the early lead with a power-play goal just 1:24 into the game. Freshman Mike McKenzie tapped in his third of the season as he picked up a rebound of a shot by sophomore Casey Parenteau after Zatkoff made the initial save.
The RedHawk power play put Miami in front as Nathan Davis tied the game, hitting a wide-open net after controlling a rebound at 3:15, and Matt Christie scored his first of the year on a power play at 8:22 to make it a 2-1 game.
The Saints had a ton of chances in a wide-open and entertaining first period as SLU outshot Miami 23-13 with Zatkoff making 22 saves.
Saints goalie Justin Pesony kept it a one-goal game 2:35 into the second period when he made a one-on-one save on Justin Mercier, who was in on a shorthanded breakaway.
St. Lawrence tied the game on a five-on-three power play midway through the second period as McKenzie fed freshman Sean Flanagan in the slot and Flanagan rifled his second of the year under the crossbar at 11:07. It was the fourth straight goal that Flanagan had figured in over the last two games.
Nino Musitelli snapped the tie for the RedHawks at 10:46 of the third period when he snapped a power play shot past Pesony and Jarod Palmer gave Miami a 4-2 lead when he scored the game’s first even-strength goal at 13:19.
The Saints came right back with junior Charlie Giffin scoring his sixth of the season just 38 seconds later to make it 4-3, but SLU could get no closer despite pulling Pesony for an extra attacker with a minute to play.
“We need to build on the effort tonight,” said Marsh. “We made a couple of mistakes, but generally we played very well against an excellent hockey team. They are very strong five-on-five and their special teams play is outstanding. I think we can take a lot out of tonight’s game.”
