Canisius used goals from three different defensemen and a 35-save effort from sophomore Daniel Urbani to record a 3-2 victory over Bentley in Atlantic Hockey Conference action Friday at the John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown, Mass.
Senior Jack Stander and juniors Jimmy Mazza and Cameron Heath all found the back of the net for the Golden Griffins (13-10-2, 13-6-0 AHC), who maintained a share of first place in the league standings with Friday’s victory.
Luke Santerno and Matt Sieckhaus scored for the Falcons (7-13-6, 4-11-5 AHC), who saw their winless streak extend to nine games.
Stander staked Canisius to a 1-0 lead just 1:25 into the contest when he finished off a rush by one-timing a pass from sophomore Nick Hutchison between the legs of Falcons goaltender Aidan Pelino for his third of the campaign.
Mazza doubled the Griffs margin to 2-0 with a power-play goal at the 8:38 mark of the second period, beating Pelino inside the left post with a slap shot from the top of the point during a 5-on-3 opportunity.
Santerno trimmed the Canisius cushion in half less than three minutes later, redirecting a centering feed from Drew Callin past Urbani while the Falcons were on the power play for his eighth of the season.
Heath restored the Griffs two-goal edge less than a minute into the third period, tapping home a backdoor feed to make it a 3-1 contest.
The Falcons once again made it a one-goal game as a pass by Sieckhaus deflected off a Canisius defender and into the back of the net to pull Bentley within one, 3-2, with 15:31 remaining.
That would be as close as the Falcons would get, however, as Urbani stopped the final 11 shots he faced to guide the Griffs to the one-goal triumph.
Head Coach Trevor Large’s Postgame Comments
“The team responded well to the challenge tonight. This was a big-boy hockey game. It was going to take everybody. We knew it was going to come down to effort plays and winning battles all over the ice. We needed that type of effort because Bentley competed hard tonight.
“It’s great when you have games like this where you’re on the road and it’s a battle. Tonight, we go up 3-1 early in the third and then they get one to make it a one-goal game and then it’s gut-check time. You have to ask yourselves, how are we going to respond? Are we going to be up-and-down and be emotional or are we going to be calm and play together?
“I was extremely pleased with how our guys played up 3-2 on the road with a good amount of time remaining in the game. We stayed composed; we were super-competitive and it required a huge amount of effort from a lot of players. As a coach, I loved it. It’s what hockey is going to be like the rest of way. Games are going to be hard and we need to be able to win games a lot of different ways. Tonight was a hard road win in a close game.”
Game Notes
• Canisius increased its lead in the all-time series against Bentley to 33-24-6 with Friday’s victory. The win also stretched the Griffs unbeaten streak against the Falcons to 11 straight games (9-0-2).
• The Griffs moved to 11-0-1 in 2017-18 and 28-2-1 since the start of the 2016-17 season when scoring the first goal of the contest.
• Canisius improved to 6-2 in one-goal games this season with Friday’s victory.
• The Griffs remained undefeated this season when leading after 40 minutes, improving to 8-0-0 under such circumstances in 2017-18.
• Junior Dylan McLaughlin recorded multiple points in a game for the 11th time this season. The Griffs improved to 8-2-1 this season when McLaughlin tallies two or more points in a game.
• McLaughlin’s two assists also increased his career point total to 95, moving him just five points away from becoming just the 12th player in the Division I era of the program to reach the 100-point plateau for his career.
• Junior Cameron Heath passed former blueliner Chris Forsman (2006-11) and moved into sole possession of second place for goals scored by a defenseman during the Division I era of the program as he recorded his 19th career tally on Friday.
• Senior Jack Stander recorded his third goal of the season in his 25th game on Friday, matching his goal output for his first 100 games in a Canisius uniform.
• Sophomore Daniel Urbani recorded 30 or more saves for the second straight contest and ninth time this season as he finished with 35 saves.
Up Next
• The teams complete their two-game series Saturday with a 4 p.m. matinee at the JAR.
