RIT mounted a third period comeback to salvage a 3-3 tie against Bentley. Andrew Favot and Sean Murphy scored goals 2:08 apart early in the third to tie the game after Bentley scored twice within 20 seconds late in the second to take the 3-1 lead.
“We knew Bentley was going to come out much harder,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson said. “They took the crowd out of it early. I give our guys credit for coming back in the third. It was two of our captains, Favot and Murphy.”
The first period went by without a goal. Bentley had the best opportunity to score when Brett Hartung had a short-handed breakaway. He blasted a close range shot which Shane Madolora got a piece of with his glove, and then the puck deflected off the crossbar out of harm’s way.
The Falcons outshot RIT in the first, 17-9, as they came out stronger than the night before.
“Without Shane in the first, we would have been in deep trouble,” Wilson said.
Adam Mitchell of RIT received a five-minute major for clipping at 18:22, so the lengthy power play carried over into the second period, a second period that took awhile to get started because the Zamboni broke down on the ice. They were able to repair it, and the second period got underway after about a 10-minute delay.
RIT was able to kill off the remainder of the major penalty. Instead, Bentley wound up scoring when they were next short-handed at 5:45.
Dustin Cloutier carried the puck down the right side into the RIT zone on a two-on-one breakout. Cloutier waited as long as possible as the RIT defenseman properly played the pass. However, Madolora did not properly play the shooter, cheating a bit to his right. Cloutier saw this, and fired a shot that just squeezed by Madolora’s pads and the near post.
RIT got it back at 13:39 on a power play. Favot held the puck at the high slot area, finally releasing a slap shot through a screen. It beat Joe Calvi over his glove. The goal ended Calvi’s 68:19 shutout streak against the Tigers, which started yesterday when Calvi entered the game in the second period.
Bentley restored their lead when Erik Peterson skated across the high slot area and wound and fired a blast. Madolora waved his glove in vain as it bounced off the post and into the net at 15:59.
Twenty seconds later, Hartung stunned the crowd with a goal Madolora would love to have back. Hartung was almost at the goal line on the right side before flipping a shot at the net. It somehow bounced off Madolora’s shoulder and trickled into the net for the 3-1 lead.
“Disappointing start,” Wilson said. “You’re going to have those during the course of the year.”
Favot scored his second of the night, both on the power play, to cut the lead to one at 4:00 of the final period. From close range on the right side, he beat Calvi through the five-hole.
Just over two minutes later, Murphy tied the game. Skating across the slot, he shook his defender off, then while still going to his left, somehow pulled the puck back to his forehand, wrapping the puck around the left pads of the goaltender.
“We made zero adjustments really during the whole game to be honest with you,” Wilson said. “The third, we started winning the battles and created opportunities for ourselves.”
The overtime went by with a few good chances by both teams, but neither could get the game winner.
“We were pretty entertaining in overtime both ways up and down the ice. Had our chances,” Wilson said. “I’ll certainly take the tie. Three out of four points, we’ll take that. It’s tough to do.”
Madolora wound up with 28 saves and Calvi stopped 35.
RIT (12-8-4, 11-3-3) hits the road next weekend with a pair at Holy Cross.
Bentley (5-11-4, 4-8-3) returns home to play two against Mercyhurst.
