SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Sophomore Dylan McLaughlin scored two goals to lead Canisius to a 4-2 victory over American International in Atlantic Hockey Conference action Friday at the MassMutual Center.
Freshmen Matt Hoover and Jesse Pereira also scored for the Griffs (12-10-5, 11-4-4 AHC), who extended their unbeaten streak to six games and maintained at least a share of first place in the league standings with the victory. Blake Christensen and Austin Orszulak accounted for the two Yellow Jackets (7-14-6, 6-10-5 AHC) tallies.
Hoover staked the Griffs to a 1-0 lead just 52 seconds into the contest, jamming home a rebound during a Canisius power play for his fifth goal of the campaign.
McLaughlin doubled the Griffs advantage to 2-0 less than 30 seconds into the second period when he buried a loose puck during a goalmouth scramble for his eighth goal of the season.
Christensen cut the Canisius advantage in half midway through the middle period, firing a slap shot from the left side wall that handcuffed Griffs netminder Charles Williams and found its way into the net to make it a 2-1 contest.
McLaughlin restored Canisius’ two-goal advantage at the 17:42 mark of the second, firing a feed from junior Ryan Schmelzer over the glove of AIC goaltender Zackarias Skog from the middle of the slot to put the Griffs in front, 3-1.
Orszulak pulled the Yellow Jackets within one, 3-2, at the 9:11 mark of the third as he beat Williams with a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.
Moments after killing off a penalty with less than five minutes to play in the third period, Canisius put the game out of reach when Pereira took a feed from junior Jeff Murray on the rush and beat Skog with a wrist shot to the blocker side to determine the final 4-2 margin.
Williams made 28 saves in goal for the Griffs while Skog turned aside 23 shots for the Yellow Jackets.
The teams complete their two-game series Saturday with a 2:05 p.m. matinee at the MassMutual Center.
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT
