WORCESTER, Mass. – The Niagara Purple Eagles rallied again in the third period, but ultimately fell short and dropped a 6-3 decision to the Holy Cross Crusaders on Friday night.
Lawrence Smith, Kevin Patterson, and Derian Plouffe added goals in the final frame as the Purple Eagles (3-20-2; 3-14-2 AHA) attempted a comeback.
“The guys rallied in the third and didn’t quit,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “They scored a couple of goals with another shorthanded goal. We have another shot at these guys tomorrow so we’ll be ready to go. In the second period, we lost the face-off game, the shot chart was tilted their way, and that ends up being the difference.”
Smith got the Purple Eagles on the board with a power-play goal that came with three-and-a-half minutes off the clock in the third period to cut the deficit in half, 2-1. The blast from the right point is the freshman’s second of the season and second in the last six games. It was also the second power-play goal in as many games for the Purple and White, marking the third time this year they have tallied with the man-advantage in back-to-back games.
Holy Cross (9-12-5; 8-7-5 AHA) was able to add three quick goals to build a 5-1 lead before Kevin Pattersonscored his second shorthanded goal in the last two games. While NU was killing a 5-minute major, Patterson joined the rush and went top corner with a wrist-shot that beat the goaltender blocker side to cut the deficit to 5-2.
Niagara was able to cut the deficit to 5-3 after the Crusaders took a late penalty and NU pulled its goalie for a 6-4 man-advantage. Keegan Harper took the shot from the point and Derian Plouffe tipped the shot five-hole to cut the lead to 5-3 with just over two minutes left.
That was as close as Niagara would come as the Crusaders added an empty net goal to take their final 6-3 lead.
The Niagara power-play went 2-for-4 on the night while the penalty kill unit went 6-for-8. Jackson Teichroebmade 38 saves in the loss.
Holy Cross opened the scoring just less than two minutes into the second period when a rebound popped out in front of the net and Teichroeb could not recover from the initial save. They extended the lead four minutes later after a bouncing puck in front found the back of the net to send the home team into the second intermission up 2-0.
The first period was largely uneventful as the Purple Eagles outshot the Crusaders 11-9 through the first 20 minutes as both teams skated into the break tied at 0-0.
These teams hit the ice for the fourth and final game of the season series tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.
