No. 11/12 Quinnipiac 4, St. Lawrence 2 (men's hockey)

HAMDEN, Conn. – The No. 11/12 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team scored three unanswered goals in the second and third period Friday evening as the Bobcats took down the St. Lawrence Saints, 4-2, at Appleton Arena.

Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) recorded three assists to give him 124 in his career, pulling within one of tying the program record of 125 held by Reid Cashman '07.

Ethan de Jong (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and Ty Smilanic (Denver, Colorado) each scored power-play goals for the Bobcats before Michael Lombardi (Barrington, Rhode Island) netted the game-winning goal. Desi Burgart (North Vancouver, British Columbia) scored a key insurance goal in the opening minute of the third period for his third of the season.

The Bobcats trailed by a goal twice in the game and answered the call each time. St. Lawrence's Tim Makowski got the Saints on the board 8:22 into the first period before de Jong answered five minutes later with his 12th of the season.

After St. Lawrence's Luc Salem scored on a two-on-one rush early in the second, Smilanic put home the equalizer with a power-play goal of his own for his 14th tally. Tufto picked off a St. Lawrence pass just minutes later and fed Lombardi for the go-ahead goal with 2:20 left in the second period.

Burgart scored an insurance goal just 47 seconds into the third period before Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts) made five saves in the final frame to secure the 4-2 win, including killing off a key five-on-three penalty kill.

The Bobcats were 2 for 6 on the power play and were a perfect 6 for 6 on the penalty kill.

SCORE

Quinnipiac 4, St. Lawrence 2

RECORDS

#11/12 Quinnipiac (15-5-4, 8-3-4 ECAC Hockey) | St. Lawrence (4-7-3, 4-7-2 ECAC Hockey)

LOCATION

Appleton Arena | Canton, N.Y.

SCORING SUMMARY

(8:22, 1st period) – Quinnipiac 0, St. Lawrence 1: Jake Stevens fired a shot from the point that was saved by Petruzzelli before Reilly Moran batted the rebound back to Tim Makowski who rifled a shot over a sprawled Petruzzelli.

(13:35, 1st period – PP) – Quinnipiac 1, St. Lawrence 1: The Bobcats controlled the puck on the power play as Tufto carried it from the left point to DiLiberatore above the right circle. DiLiberatore fired a shot on goal that was initially saved by St. Lawrence's Emil Zetterquist but de Jong was waiting on the doorstep to jam home the rebound.

(5:30, 2nd period) – Quinnipiac 1, St. Lawrence 2: St. Lawrence regained the lead in the early part of the second period on an odd-man rush as Moran tapped a Jacob Nielson pass up to Luc Salem on the right side. Salem carried it into the offensive zone on a two-on-one where he beat Petruzzelli past his glove.

(15:58, 2nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 2, St. Lawrence 2: Smilanic scored once again on the power play for the Bobcats as Zach Metsa (Delafield, Wisconsin) passed the puck from the point to Tufto at the bumper for Smilanic in the high slot for the no-look wrister around a St. Lawrence defender that went top shelf.

(17:40, 2nd period) – Quinnipiac 3, St. Lawrence 2: Less than two minutes later, Tufto picked off a St. Lawrence pass in its own defensive zone and fired a pass on net for Lombardi where he made a nifty move to deke around Zetterquist to give the Bobcats the lead.

(00:47, 3rd period) – Quinnipiac 4, St. Lawrence 2: Iivari Räsänen (Tampere, Finland) fired a pass up from the defensive zone to Matthew Fawcett (Lincoln, Rhode Island) at the opposite blue line. Fawcett skated a few strides before dropping a pass off for Burgart who wired home a bullet over Zetterquist's glove.

NOTES

Tufto tallied three assists, his third straight game with multiple assists, to give him 124 career assists and pull within one of tying the program record of 125 held by Reid Cashman '07.

Tufto has a career-high 34 assists after his three-assist night and finished the game with 38 points, passing Cole Caufield for the national points lead.

Tufto's three assists also gives him 159 points in his career, passing the 158 of Rick Ciardiello '87 for seventh all-time in program history.

Tufto is two points away from recording his third career 40-point season after recording 41 as a first year in 2017-18 and 42 in 2018-19.

de Jong continues to pour on the goals this season as he notched his 12th of the 2020-21 season and moved into a tie for the national lead with seven power-play goals.

Smilanic also scored a power-play goal to tie Denver's Carter Savoie for fourth in the nation with six power-play goals.

Smilanic's goal was his 14th of the season, tied with Bowling Green's Connor Ford for fourth in the country and maintains his national rookie lead.

Smilanic also became the fifth rookie in the nation to reach the 20-point mark

Lombardi tallied his fourth goal of the season and now has goals in back-to-back games.

He has points in three consecutive games and five of his last six.

Burgart also extended his point streak to three games with a goal Friday night, reaching the 10-goal mark for the first time in his career.

He has goals in two of his last three games, and points in five of his last six games.

DiLiberatore recorded an assist to give him points in three consecutive games, his second three-game point streak of the season.

Metsa continues to rack up points for the Bobcats as he extended his point streak to four games, recording five points in his last four games.

Metsa leads the nation's defensemen with 22 points.

Räsänen recorded an assist for a third straight game and extended his point streak to four games.

Five of Räsänen's six points this season have come in the last six games.

Fawcett recorded an assist for his ninth point of the season, giving him seven points over the last six games.

Petruzzelli recorded his 15th win of the season and 49th of his career, pulling within one goal of becoming the fifth goaltender in Division I program history with 50 career wins.

He also eclipsed 1400 minutes in the 2020-21 season, maintaining his national lead for minutes played.

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats and Saints faceoff in Quinnipiac's final road game of the 2020-21 regular season Saturday evening with puck drop set for 4 p.m.

Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ in the United States and Internationally on Stretch Internet.