Joe Sullivan and Gavin Bayreuther each tallied two points and Kyle Hayton made 32 saves in the No. 19 Saints 2-0 win over Quinnipiac to help St. Lawrence take a 1-0 lead in the ECAC Hockey best-of-three quarterfinal series on Friday night at Appleton Arena.
The Saints scored a goal in each of the first two periods and Hayton stopped 16 shots in the final frame – most when the Bobcats had pulled netminder Andrew Shortridge for the extra attacker – en route to the win. It is the third time Hayton has kept fifth-seeded Quinnipiac off the scoresheet this season, as he’s now posted 203 minutes and 20 seconds of consecutive shutout time between the pipes against the Bobcats.
Michael Ederer gave the fourth-seeded Saints a 1-0 lead at the 11:11 mark of the opening frame with his eighth goal of the season. Quinnipiac left the Lancaster, N.Y. native open at the top of the crease and Sullivan played it from behind the red line for an easy redirect and the game-winning goal.
Sullivan extended the lead to 2-0 with time winding down in the second period and the Saints threatening on the power play.
Bayreuther kept the puck alive on the left side and slid a pass along the blue line to defensive partner Ben Finkelstein who settled before hitting Sullivan for a quick redirect at the bottom of the left circle for the second St. Lawrence goal with .06 seconds remaining in the frame. The Saints have now scored a power play goal in each of their last three games.
After Alex Gilmour was assessed a minor penalty for cross-checking at 9:50 of the third period, Quinnipiac pulled Shortridge for the extra attacker to set up a 6-on-4 in an attempt to jump start its offense, but managed just three shots on net with two shots wide and one blocked by Eric Sweetman. Sweetman led the Saints with four blocked shots on Friday night.
St. Lawrence also blocked three shots in the final minute of play with the Bobcats net empty to keep Quinnipiac off the board. The Saints has four bids at the empty net, but all sailed just wide.
The teams will return to Appleton Arena for game two of the quarterfinal series on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
