Senior Jeff Edwards matched his career high with seven points on four goals and three assists to pace the high-scoring Griffs (2-2). Junior Ryan McKee notched four goals and sophomore Mario Caito added three. Junior Connor Kearnan tallied two goals and added two assists for four points.
Jake Lewis scored two goals and added three assists while Nick Wendal finished with three goals and one assist for the Vikings (2-5).
Cleveland State held a 3-0 lead midway through the first half before Canisius rattled off eight unanswered goals to take control of the contest and build an 8-3 cushion.
McKee opened the game-changing stretch with a rebound tally at the 5:37 mark of first quarter before Edwards struck from close range with 2:25 remaining to make it a 3-2 contest after one.
A man-up strike from Vaccaro and a tally from McKee 44 seconds apart early in the second quarter gave the Griffs their first lead of the game, 4-3.
McKee added his third goal of the first half a little more than two minutes later to stretch the Canisius advantage to 5-3, while goals from freshman Carter Stefaniak, Caito and Edwards in a 1:34 span later in the frame made it an 8-3 contest.
A man-up tally by Cleveland State in the final minute of the second quarter temporarily halted the Canisius momentum, but the Griffs regained control by rattling off six straight goals to open the second half and build their largest margin of the game, 14-4.
Caito kicked off the second-half run with his second of the game just 2:57 into the third quarter before Edwards added his second of the contest on a feed from Kearnan to make it 10-4.
Caito buried his second of the quarter and McKee struck for his fourth of the game to close out the third frame while a pair of tallies from Kearnan to open the fourth gave Canisius its first double-digit advantage of the game.
Cleveland State countered with back-to-back tallies to trim the Canisius cushion to 14-6, but Edwards recorded his fourth goal of the game during a man-up situation to make a 15-6 contest.
The Vikings scored to once again make it an eight-goal contest midway through the fourth, but tallies from freshmen Adam Dunbar and Alex Hornung restored Canisius’ double-digit advantage and closed out the contest.
Junior Liam Ganzhorn made 12 saves in goal for Canisius while Caleb Espinoza made 13 saves for Cleveland State.
Canisius completes its four-game road swing March 14 with a 7 p.m. contest at Empire State rival Hobart.
