For the second straight night, the RIT Tigers used a pair of goals spanning the late second and early third period to take control of the game against the Bentley Falcons. Al Mazur scored a power play goal at 16:45 and Anton Kharin tallied his second goal of the game at 1:44 of the third period as the Tigers rolled to a 5-2 victory.
The win secures a second place finish in the regular season Atlantic Hockey standings. This is the first season that RIT is eligible for the Atlantic Hockey playoffs.
“Now we have to deal with the sudden-ness of when the season is going to end,†said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “The last two years, we had date certain when our last game was going to be. But now we have to adjust to it ending in any game.â€
The opening part of the first period was very evenly played as the teams looked for an advantage. RIT took control during the middle portion of the period, out shooting Bentley 8-2 during a seven minute span.
The pressure paid off for the Tigers when Anton Kharin gave RIT a 1-0 lead at 10:04. Kharin carried the puck across the blue line to the top of the left faceoff circle where he ripped a shot over Falcons goaltender Joe Calvi’s glove for the goal.
“We talked last night about getting our secondary scoring going and it couldn’t have come at a better time,†said Wilson. “Simon Lambert and Matt Smith have been carrying the offense so far, but it is good to see some of the other guys going.â€
Bentley rallied as the period wound down and poured lots of pressure on the RIT net. The Falcons hit pay dirt at 18:20 when Dustin Cloutier swatted home a rebound off a scramble in front of the Tiger net to tie the game 1-1.
The Falcons (9-19-6) came out strong in the second period as well and took their first lead of the weekend series just 1:40 into the stanza. Cloutier carried the puck down the right boards and wristed a shot on net from a tight angle. RIT goaltender Louis Menard pushed the rebound out into the slot and
Jeremy Robert pounced on it to score the goal and give Bentley a 2-1 lead.
RIT (17-11-6) battled back and tied the game mid period off a lucky bounce. Brennan Sarazin was forechecking all alone while the Tigers were killing off a penalty and was able to swat home the puck for the shorthanded goal at 11:56.
The Tigers power play took center stage late in the period, scoring for its ninth consecutive game, to retake the lead 3-2. Simon Lambert held the puck just to the right of the Bentley net and drew the Falcons defenders to him.
This enabled RIT defenseman Al Mazur to pinch down the slot and he fired the pass from Lambert into the back of the net for the goal at 16:45.
RIT chipped in two more goals in the third period to complete the weekend sweep of Bentley. Kharin tallied his second score of the night at 1:44, carrying the puck from his own blue line and sweeping a backhand past Calvi.
Mike Janda gave the Tigers a 5-2 lead at 8:36, beating Calvi stick side, to complete the scoring.
