WEST POINT, N.Y. – After two scoreless periods, the Army West Point hockey team exploded for four goals in the third period to earn the 4-0 victory to take the series lead over Sacred Heart in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament quarterfinals on Friday Night at Tate Rink.
With the win, Army extended its winning streak to 12 games, which leads the nation. The Black Knights improved to 14-4-1 on the season and earned its ninth win at home. Army had four goals from four different goal scorers and Trevin Kozlowski stood tall in net with 30 saves for his second shutout this season.
“Coming out to start the third and scoring early was huge for us,” head coach Brian Riley said. “It kind of had that feel that whoever got the first goal was going to win this game. We’ve been in a lot of these games all year where it comes down to winning a third period. It’s great to get this first one, but it’s not a one-game series, it’s a best-of-three.”
Mitch Machlitt put Army on the board first in the third period with a nifty redirect in front of the net off an odd-angle pass from Thomas Farrell and the Black Knights were up 1-0, only 1:25 into the final frame. For Machlitt, it was his first career playoff goal in his first playoff appearance.
Four minutes later, Ricky Lyle Jr. joined Machlitt as one of two rookies to score in their first playoff game. He collected the puck on the side boards after a pass up ice from Lincoln Hatten and went in on Sacred Heart’s netminder Luke Lush and beat him on a nice move to put the Black Knights up 2-0 with 14:43 left on the clock.
Colin Bilek made it 3-0 with 6:52 left for his 17th tally of the season on a beautiful feed to the slot from behind the net by Mason Krueger. He slid the puck between the Sacred Heart defense and Bilek buried it to extend his goal scoring streak to six games and he has seven goals in those games.
Daniel Haider closed out the scoring 22 seconds later with another great redirect in front of the net after a feed from the corner by John Zimmerman and Army shut the door in the final minutes for the 4-0 win.
Neither team found the net on the power play on three chances each. The Black Knights outshot the Pioneers 34-30.
Game two of the series is set for a 5:05 p.m. puckdrop at Tate Rink with the game live on FloHockey.tv and the Army Sports Network.
HIGHLIGHTS AND NOTES:
- Army is unbeaten in its last 12 games with an 11-0-1 record.
- The unbeaten streak is the longest under Riley and longest since 1995-96 when Army went unbeaten in 12-straight games.
- Army is now 7-0-0 when scoring four or more goals in a game this season.
- Kozlowski is now unbeaten in his last 14 starts.
- Kozlowski is now eighth in the nation in goals against average at 1.86 and is sixth in the country in winning percentage.
- He recorded his third career shutout and first in the playoffs.
- Army scored four goals in a period for the third time this season.
- Bilek is second in the nation in goals with 17 on the season.
- He extended his point streak to 12 games and has at least a point in 16 of his last 17 appearances on the ice.
- Krueger recorded his 10th career multi-point game of his career with two assists.
(Army Hockey Photo)
