A pair of goals 12 seconds apart late in the third period pulled the Clarkson University Hockey team within one against Quinnipiac, but the Bobcats tallied their third power-play goal of the game with 32 seconds remaining into an empty net to gain a 5-3 win at the TD Banknorth Center in Hamden, CT on Saturday night.
Clarkson, which also lost by the same score at Princeton Friday, falls to 8-16-6 overall and to ninth place in ECAC Hockey with a 6-9-3 league mark. The Golden Knights host Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend in their final regular season home stand at Cheel Arena.
Trailing 4-1 with less than seven minutes to play in regulation, the Knights scored back-to-back goals to make it a one goal game. Working on the power play, and with freshman goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) out of the net for the extra attacker, Clarkson began to rally. Senior Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) connected off a pass from classmate Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) with a slap shot from the left circle at 13:20 for his eighth goal of the season and 97th career point. D’Alvise recorded his 98th career point on the play. Moments later at 13:32, sophomore Lauri Tuohimaa (Helsinki, Finland) slipped in a backhand off a pass from classmate Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) to make it 4-3.
Quinnipiac (15-13-2, 8-8-2), which had lost four straight games, including the past three in overtime, sealed the win, however, with the empty-net tally by Eric Lampe at 19:28.
With three power plays in the opening 20 minutes, Quinnipiac enjoyed the better of the play in the first period, out shooting Clarkson 12-7, but it was the Knights who took the initial lead. Sophomore defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT), connected on Clarkson’s first shot of the game, finishing off a 2-on-1 break with Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT). Rufenach knocked in a perfect pass across the slot from his classmate at 6:25 for his seventh goal of the season.
Quinnipiac took control early in the second period with a three-goal spurt in a span of 3:21. Dan Henningson started the Bobcat roll with a 4-on-3 power-play tally at 5:24. Chris Myers followed by knocking in a rebound at 7:57, and Spencer Heichman put the home team on top 3-1 with another goal off a rebound at 8:45.
David Marshall made it 4-1 for the Bobcats with a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 8:41 of the third.
Quinnipiac went 3-of-10 with the man-advantage, while Clarkson was 1-of-5 on the power play.
Karpowich made 35 saves, including several breakaway stops, as the Bobcats held a 40-21 margin in shots.
