The Quinnipiac Bobcats (12-2-1, 6-1-1 ECAC) saw their 13-game unbeaten streak come to an end as they were defeated 4-3 by the Princeton Tigers (3-8-0, 2-6-0 ECAC) Saturday night at the High Point Solutions Arena.
Both teams came out physical in the first period with some emotions running high from the teams’ tilt on Friday night in Princeton. Specials teams got some extra work in the opening frame as both teams went 0-2 on power-play opportunities. The best chance of the period went to the Tigers when seven minutes in Princeton had a 2-1 opportunity that was stopped by Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia).
Sam Anas (Potomac, Md.) got the scoring started just 21 seconds into the second period. Kellen Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) skated into the Princeton zone and fired a cross ice feed to Anas who one timed it past the glove of Tigers’ goalie Colton Phinney to give Quinnipiac the 1-0 lead. One minute and 49 seconds later, the Bobcats found the back of the net thanks to a beautiful give and go play by the Jones twins. Kellen skated into the zone on a partial 2-1 breakaway and fed a pass to his brother Connor Jones (Montrose, British Columbia). Connor then passed back to Kellen who buried it for his sixth goal of the season, giving Quinnipiac the 2-0 lead.
Just when it seemed as if Quinnipiac would head to the locker room with the two-goal advantage, Eric Carlson blasted a shot past Garteig on the power-play to cut Quinnipiac’s lead to 2-1 with 2:30 left in the second period. Kevin Liss shot a pass from deep in the Princeton zone to Michael Zajac in the neutral zone. Zajac then lobbed the puck to Carlson, who skated in unopposed on Garteig and beat the Bobcats’ net minder five hole for his first goal of the season.
The Bobcats would strike early again, this time 42 seconds into the third period thanks to fantastic zone passing between Connor Jones, Anas, and Kellen Jones. Connor Jones fed a pass to Anas from behind the goal line, who then shoveled it to Kellen Jones who fired it into the wide open top of the net for the 3-1 lead and his second goal of the night.
About 10 minutes later, Princeton came back when Jack Berger shot the puck past Garteig following a face off win from Aaron Kesselman. The Tigers would continue to pressure the Quinnipiac defense and got rewarded when at the 16:32 mark of the third period, Mike Ambrosia corralled a pass from Aaron Ave in the corner of the offensive zone and beat Garteig as the Bobcats net minder sprawled out too soon, leaving a gaping net for Ambrosia to tap the puck into.
“All of the goals we gave up tonight were just atrocious breakdowns,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Just awful defensive hockey, and that’s not how we usually play.”
Princeton concluded the late rally from a Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) giveaway. Peca went to pass the puck but it instead landed on the stick of Princeton forward Andrew Ammon. Ammon wasted no time in wristing the puck past the left shoulder of Garteig to give the Tigers the 4-3 lead.
“On that fourth goal, it’s almost unbelievable that we basically passed the puck to the other team,” Pecknold said. “It’s unfathomable that it actually happened.”
Quinnipiac ended the day 0-4 on the power play while Princeton went 1-5 on the man advantage. The Bobcats are back in action Wednesday night as they take on the providence Friars at the High Point Solutions Arena at 7 p.m.
