After skating to a tie Friday night, the Bowling Green Falcons extended their undefeated streak to seven after beating the Lake Superior State Lakers, 5-2, thanks to two short-handed goals and a four-point night for forward Stephen Baylis.
The Falcons went on the penalty kill early in the first period with Sam Craggs going to the box for a two-minute boarding call. After Bednard deflected a point-blank shot, Baylis chose to take a chance instead of dumping it in and getting a change. Baylis skated the length of the ice for a breakaway, going forehand to backhand and sliding it past Lakers goaltender Mareks Mittens for a big short-handed goal to give the Falcons an early lead.
The Lakers got the equalizer later in the period when Diego Cuglietta took a bouncing puck off the faceoff and snuck it through the legs of Falcons goaltender Ryan Bednard.
The Falcons continued their short-handed success in the second with the Falcons captain Mitch Mclain garnering his third goal of the season after a two-on-one breakaway setup from Lukas Craggs.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, things would get worse before getting any better. With 1:12 left in the second, Cameron Wright centered a pass that led to a top shelf snipe for Baylis’ second goal of the night.
Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron asked his upperclassmen to step up and lead the scoring charge after last night; needless to say, he praised Baylis’ four-point performance.
“He has great physical play, with and without the puck,” said Bergeron. “He’s strong when he has it, and when he doesn’t, he’s strong to get it back. He can take over games for sure.”
The Falcons rolled along into the third period with an early power-play opportunity; this time, Cameron Wright got in on the action. Baylis fired a cross-ice pass to the left faceoff circle, and Wright ripped a one-timer past Mittens for the Falcons’ fourth of the night.
Baylis also thought the Falcons upperclassmen performed up to par tonight, saying “I think we focused on hitting the net, simplified our game, and put some guys in front of the net to create some chances. If we have three or four goals, that’s enough to win with where our defense is right now.”
Bergeron when asked about the goal “Baylis’ and Wright’s play on the power play is as nice of bang-bang play as you’re going to see. We’re capable of creating goals, we just want to be more consistent with it. When we look at the three-goal mark, if we give up less than three goals we should win a bunch of games. I think we’ve hit that mark 80 percent of our games. We’ve showed a few different times this year what we are capable of; we just need to do it more often”.
The Lakers were not about to go down without a fight when they capitalized on a breakaway chance. Cuglietta skated down the middle of the ice, firing a shot that ricocheted off of Bednard’s pad, giving Gage Torrel a big rebound that he poked in the back of the net. Despite Cuglietta dislodging the net, the officials determined the puck had crossed before the net was off. Mclain finished up the scoring, sending a fluttering puck airborne and into the empty net.
The Lakers fell to 2-7-3 and are tied with Alaska Anchorage and Alaska for eighth in the WCHA; they travel to Bemidji next weekend to take on the Beavers. The Falcons improved to 5-3-3 overall and second in the conference; they look to take on Minnesota State next weekend in Mankato.
WCHA Roundup
No. 10 Minnesota State 8, Bemidji State 6
In a game that saw 14 goals and two hat tricks, the Mavericks came away with the big win in the impressive offensive display. Both teams went into the third period tied at five when Bemidji’s Jay Dickman tallied his third of the night, only to be matched 20 seconds later by Max Coatta for the Mavericks. With a minute and a half left in the game, Marc Michaelis sealed it for Minnesota State with his seventh goal of the season and a game-winner. The Beavers fell to 4-4-2, and Minnesota State is now 8-3-0 and atop the conference standings.
No. 20 Northern Michigan 4, Michigan Tech 0
Northern Michigan dominated the Michigan Tech Huskies with a 4-0 shutout. Senior forward Robbie Payne scored an even-strength and power-play goal for the Wildcats, while goaltender Atte Tolvanen fought off all 19 Huskies shots. Northern Michigan improves to 6-4-0, while Michigan Tech falls to 5-6-2. Both teams are now tied for third place in the WCHA.
Alaska Anchorage 3, Alabama-Hunstville 3 (shootout)
The Seawolves battled back from an early one-goal deficit to skate to an official tie, getting the extra point in the shootout. Jeremiah Luedtke scored the shootout winner, while goaltender Olivier Mantha made 36 saves in the contest. the Seawolves improved to 1-7-2, overall while the Chargers fell to 3-6-1.
Ferris State 5, Alaska 3
Despite a chaotic trade-off of scoring in the second period, the Ferris State Bulldogs held on to sweep the Alaska Nanooks with a 5-3 win. Defenseman Nate Kellen led the scoring drive for the Bulldogs by not only scoring the first goal, but also the game-winner. Ferris State improves to 5-6-1, while Alaska falls to 3-7-2 on the year.
