TROY — The Niagara power play continued its hot start to the 2016-17 season, and that was a major factor in the Purple Eagles’ non-conference opener at RPI. Johnny Curran scored a pair of goals, a power-play tally in the second period and the game-tying goal with 3:14 left in regulation, to help Niagara to a 3-3 tie Friday night at the Houston Field House.
The Purple Eagles went 2-for-9 on the man advantage against an RPI penalty kill that was a perfect 17-for-17 entering the contest. Jackson Teichroeb returned to the net and made 38 saves on 41 RPI shots, including four key stops in overtime and nine saves on 10 RPI power-play shots.
Each side had plenty of scoring chances in the first period, with the shots on goal favoring the Engineers 11-9. Jackson Teichroeb made three saves in a 30-second flurry by RPI to close the period. Niagara had three power-play chances in the first 20 minutes. That gave the Purple Eagles plenty of chances to get on the board, but RPI’s Chase Perry kept the score sheet clean. The Purple Eagles scored the first goal of the game for the third time in four games this season. On the power play, Ryan Kuhn corralled the puck in the high slot, finding Derian Plouffe to the right of the goal. Plouffe roofed a shot over Perry for the 1-0 lead at the 11:05 mark of the second period. Just 38 seconds later, RPI’s Evan Tironese tied the game at one. However, Niagara scored its second power-play tally of the evening 57 seconds after that. Plouffe, again setting up with the puck on the right wing, fed the pass across the slot to Johnny Curran for a one-timer past Perry. The Engineers reclaimed the lead late in the third period, putting the Purple Eagles in a 3-2 deficit with just over five minutes to play. Lou Nanne tied the game for RPI just 1:44 into the third period. On the power play, Jared Wilson launched a shot from the blue line straight on the net, and it sailed over Teichroeb’s right shoulder to give the Engineers the 3-2 lead. With 3:14 to play, however, it was Curran who came up with the game-tying goal. An RPI defender floated an errant behind-the-back pass just inside their blue line. The pass set up a perfect one-time opportunity for Curran, and he lasered a slap shot over the shoulder of Perry for the final goal of the evening. Shots on goal were even at four apiece during the overtime period, with Perry and Teichroeb combining to make all eight saves.
Head coach David Burkholder said, “We are making progress as a team. Tonight was a solid 65-minute effort by our guys. We did a great job on both special teams, and got great goaltending from Jackson.”
Niagara’s stretch of three road games in five days wraps up on Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. matchup at Union. The Dutchmen enter Saturday’s game coming off a 5-2 win over the RIT Tigers on Friday night.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
