HANOVER, N.H. — Using a pair of power-play goals to establish control, Yale outskated Dartmouth for a 4-1 ECAC Hockey win on Friday night in a contest that took the luster off the Big Green’s Thompson Arena home opener.
Tommy Fallen hit man-up paydirt midway through the second period on an advantage set up by a Big Green penalty called eight seconds after its only goal. Ryan Hitchcock added another for the Bulldogs (2-1-2 overall, 1-1-1 ECAC) in the third period shortly after a Dartmouth penalty that negated its own power play.
Mike Doherty and Frankie DiChiara also struck for Yale to support Alex Lyon’s 26-save night in goal.
“I wouldn’t say we controlled the game; I thought the first period was pretty even,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “I thought the first five minutes of the second period, we set the tempo a little bit. Then it was a battle right to the end.”
Dartmouth forechecking kept the puck in Yale’s end of the rink for the early part of the contest. Yale’s opportunism put the visitors on the scoreboard, however, Doherty tipping Charles Orzetti’s flip from the right point at 6:17, a play started by a failed Big Green clearance along the right-wing boards.
The visitors came out more energized to start the middle stanza, effort that paid off at 3:09. Returning to the Dartmouth end on a counterattack, John Hayden sent a cross-ice pass to the high left circle for DiChiara, whose one-time wrister pinged the left goalpost and banked in off the leg of fallen Big Green netminder James Kruger (26 saves).
Charlie Mosey drew the Big Green a goal back at 9:50 only to have teammate Brandon Kirk draw a boarding minor in the neutral zone eight seconds later. The visitors didn’t miss on the opportunity, with Fallen solving Kruger from the right point at 10:31.
A similar scenario – a momentum-sapping minor to Dartmouth (1-2-1), a power-play conversion for Yale – clinched the victory. Eric Robinson’s offensive-zone elbow to the head of Hayden nuked the manpower advantage. Once Fallen returned from his own minor, Hitchcock buried a rebound of a Doherty drive at 11:28 for security.
“We have to clean that up,” Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said. “We got momentum because we were working really hard on those preceding shifts. You can’t shoot yourself in the foot.”
Yale’s two power-play goals ended a season-starting eight-for-eight run for Dartmouth’s penalty killers
