A three-goal outburst in the middle of the third period capped off a strong finish for the Clarkson University Hockey team which defeated Princeton 5-2 at Cheel Arena before a crowd of 2,253 on Friday night for its sixth straight victory.
The Golden Knights, ranked 20th in the national polls, are now unbeaten in their last eight games (7-0-1) to improve their record to 16-10-3 overall and to 8-6-3 in ECAC Hockey. The Green and Gold square off against #1-ranked Quinnipiac in Potsdam on Saturday.
post game audio from Head Coach Casey Jones
Junior Jordan Boucher paced the Clarkson offense against Princeton with his first career two-goal outing. Senior Paul Geiger and sophomores Dylan Gareau and Ben Dalpe also scored as the Knights improved to home record at Cheel to 11-1-2. Senior Jeff DiNallo and sophomore Nic Pierog tallied two assists each.
Clarkson came out sluggish against Princeton (5-17-2, 3-12-2) and fell behind early when the Tigers connected for a power-play goal. Ryan Kuffner gave the visitors the opening lead when he connected on a shot from the top of the right circle at 7:17 off a pass from Mike Ambrosia. Josh Teves also assisted on the goal which came with just 37 seconds left in the man-advantage.
The Knights battled back and tied the score late in the first. During a scramble in front, the puck popped out to the high slot where Gareau found the loose puck and fired in a shot from between the circles at 17:58 for his first goal of the season. Seniors Todd Christian and DiNallo assisted.
Clarkson took its first lead of the night at 11:16 of the middle frame on Boucher’s first goal of the game. Boucher picked up rebound off a shot by Pierog and sent in a hard shot along the left board to put the Knights up 2-1. Sophomore defenseman Terrance Amorosa also assisted.
The Tigers struck late in the stanza when Max Veronneau banked in a backhand shot from below the goal line off the skate of Clarkson senior goaltender Greg Lewis at 17:04 to tie the game.
Clarkson, which has scored five-or-more goals in five games this season, put the game away in the final period with three goals in a span of 7:45.
Dalpe scored in his second straight game to get things started. At 5:19, Dalpe picked up a rebound off a shot by senior defenseman Kevin Tansey at the bottom of the left circle and found the back of the net for the game-winner and his third goal of the year.
Geiger made it 4-2 at 10:57 when he took a beautiful cross-ice pass from DiNallo and connected for his fifth goal of the season.
Boucher closed out the scoring with his fifth goal of the year at 13:04 with Pierog and sophomore Brett Gervais assisting.
The Tigers pulled their goaltender with over three minutes to play, but could not get another shot past Lewis.
Clarkson held a slim 30-28 advantage in shots. Lewis, who has not allowed more than two goals in a game during the current eight-game unbeaten streak, posted 26 saves. Phinney posted 25 saves through 53 minutes of action, as Princeton lost its fifth straight game.
The Knights were 0-of-2 on the power play, while Princeton scored on its lone man-advantage opportunity.
