NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – For a second straight game, the Purple Eagles hockey team rallied after losing a late lead on home ice to take a 4-3 overtime victory. Johnny Curran scored twice before Noah Delmas gave the Purple Eagles a 3-0 lead in the first minute of the third period. RPI’s Will Reilly tied the game with 1:45 left in regulation, but Sean King redirected a pass from Keegan Harper with 0.2 seconds to play as the Purple Eagles took down the Engineers at Dwyer Arena.
Johnny Curran scored the game’s first two goals to lead the way for the Purple Eagles. Noah Delmas tallied one goal and one assist, and he and Curran lead the team with four points each through three games.
The Purple Eagles are now 2-0 at Dwyer Arena to start the new season, the first time the team has won its first two home games since 2007. Niagara also picked up its first non-conference win since Oct. 26, 2012, a 2-0 road win over Clarkson.
Game Summary
* Final Score: Niagara 4, RPI 3 (OT)
* Niagara Goals: Johnny Curran (2), Noah Delmas, Sean King
* Niagara Assists: Noah Delmas, Keegan Harper, Niko Kovachis, Zach Mills, Derian Plouffe, Larry Smith
* In Goal: Guillaume Therien (2-0-0) – 3 GA, 16 SV
* Special Teams: Niagara – 1-4 (5 SOG); RPI – 0-5 (4 SOG)
* Records: Niagara – 2-1-0 (1-0-0 AHC); RPI – 0-1-2 (0-0-0 ECAC)
* Location: Dwyer Arena – Niagara University, N.Y.
* Attendance: 880
Game Recap
* Niagara opened the scoring at the 11:38 mark of the first period when Larry Smith sent a long pass towards Johnny Curran in the RPI end. Curran outworked the RPI defender to gain possession, faked out the goaltender, and buried his forehand top-shelf for the 1-0 lead.
* The Purple Eagles nearly doubled their lead later in the period when Derian Plouffe and Nic Mucci broke in all alone against RPI goaltender Chase Perry. Mucci’s one-time shot from Plouffe was narrowly turned away by the blocker of Perry.
* Just over six minutes into the second period, Noah Delmas flew into the RPI zone up the right wing, broke towards the net, and found Curran wide-open on the back door for his second goal of the evening.
* With an early power-play in the third period, Plouffe won a faceoff back to the point, where Delmas ripped home his first goal as a Purple Eagle to make it a 3-0 Niagara lead.
* The Engineers started their comeback just over two minutes after Delmas’ goal. Max Reisinger got RPI on the board first before a long wrist shot from Jacob Hayhurst got past the glove of Guillaume Therien to make it 3-2 just two minutes later.
* With a late power play, RPI was able to convert to tie the game as Will Reilly placed a shot from the blue line through traffic and over the shoulder of Therien, tying the game with 1:45 to play.
* Sean King nearly ended the game in regulation for Niagara, winding up from the high slot in the RPI zone and cranking a wrist shot right off the pipe.
* Niagara dominated possession in the overtime period and outshot the Engineers 5-0, but it took all the way until the very last second to break through.
* In the dying seconds of overtime, Keegan Harper got the puck out from the right wing boards to King in the slot, who sent the puck over the right pad of Perry for the 4-3 Niagara victory.
Coach’s Corner
* Head coach Jason Lammers: “It’s impressive to see our guys as we learn how to win and how to finish out a game. Obviously it’s not exactly how we wanted to do it, but we’re learning to win and that’s a big deal, because winning is a learned skill.”
Inside the Numbers
* Niagara picked up its first conference win in nearly five years. The team’s last win outside of Atlantic Hockey came on Oct. 26, 2012, a 2-0 win at Clarkson.
* The Purple Eagles also started their home schedule with a 2-0 record for the first time since 2007.
* Johnny Curran scored two goals in one game for the third time in his Niagara career, his first multi-goal game since Oct. 19, 2016 at Sacred Heart. The Purple Eagles are now 2-0-1 when Curran scores more than once in a game.
* Curran (2+2), Noah Delmas (1+3), and Derian Plouffe (2+1) are all on three-game point streaks to start the 2017-18 season.
* The Purple Eagles scored a power-play goal for the third consecutive game to start the season while holding perfect on the penalty kill for the second time in three games.
* In the second period, Niagara’s 12 shots tied for the team’s most in one period this season, while the four shots against in that time were the team’s least allowed in one period this season.
* Keegan Harper’s four blocked shots were the most in one game by a Purple Eagle this season. Derian Plouffe blocked a season-high three shots and ranked second in Friday’s win.
* Niagara is now 5-2-1 against RPI all-time, including a 3-0-0 record at Dwyer Arena.
Up Next
* The Purple Eagles are right back at Dwyer Arena on Saturday, Oct. 21 to take on the Union Dutchmen at 7:05 p.m. The game will be televised locally on LCTV, and Steve Warzala has the play-by-play on WLVL 1340 AM.
Stay connected with the Purple Eagles through social media. Follow Niagara Athletics on Twitter @NUPurpleEagles<http://www.twitter.com/nupurpleeagles> and for men’s hockey updates, follow Niagara hockey on Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/niagarauhockey> and Instagram<http://www.instagram.com/niagarauhockey>. Check in with the Purple Eagles on Facebook.com/PurpleEagles<https://www.facebook.com/PurpleEagles> and on Instagram @NUPurpleEagles<https://instagram.com/nupurpleeagles/>.
