Third-Period Goals Prove Costly in Loss to Visiting Clarkson

Saturday, January 17

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

CLARKSON

Third-Period Goals Prove Costly in Loss to Visiting Clarkson

1/17/2015 9:07:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – Three third-period goals by Clarkson proved to be the difference Saturday night at Thompson Arena as the visitors earned a 5-2 ECAC Hockey victory against the Dartmouth men's hockey team.

Fighting back to tie things at two through 40 minutes of play after trailing 2-0, the Big Green (6-8-3, 3-6-1 ECAC) were unable to match two quick tallies from the Golden Knights (8-11-4, 5-4-2 ECAC) midway through the third.

“It's disappointing to battle back from down two and be unable to finish the job,” head coach Bob Gaudet '81 said following the game. “We had plenty of chances, but we just couldn't match what they brought in that stretch where they scored those two goals.”

Seniors Tyler Sikura and Rick Pinkston netted their sixth and second respective tallies of the season in the middle frame to erase the two-goal deficit.

Sikura's marker came at 7:25 of the second, knocking in a loose puck at the side of the net after nice passing in the offensive zone from classmates Andy Simpson and Eric Robinson, cutting the two-goal margin in half.

Pinkston followed at 12:15 with a shot from the point that redirected into the net off the skate of a defender in the slot. Junior Brett Patterson took the hit to make the play, touching the puck over to Grant Opperman who then moved it up the boards to Pinkston for the shot.

Tied heading into the third period for the first time all season, Dartmouth could not continue the momentum is had built in the middle stanza. Clarkson's James de Haas and Sam Vigneault scored a power-play goal and an even-strength tally just 46 seconds apart to seemingly put the game out of reach.

Clarkson added an empty netter for insurance from Jeff DiNallo with 17.9 seconds remaining to wrap it up.

Greg Lewis stood tall in the visitors' goal, stopping 34 shots, including all 12 in the third for the win, his first of the season. Junior James Kruger stopped 26 in the loss.

Special teams played a role in the outcome as Dartmouth was unable to score on four power-play opportunities, while Clarkson went 2-for-5 with the man-advantage.

The Big Green head out on the road for an ECAC Hockey road trip next weekend against Colgate and Cornell on Friday and Saturday nights.