Quinnipiac (20-5-5, 10-3-3 ECAC) men’s ice hockey lost its first conference matchup since December when St. Lawrence (11-14-3, 5-8-3 ECAC) took the 3-2 win on Saturday night. Two third period goals helped fuel the come-from-behind victory for the Saints, an unranked squad.

Head coach Rand Pecknold was underwhelmed by his team’s play.

“We weren’t very good tonight,” he said. “I thought we stunk in every facet of the game. We were a bad hockey team. The boys didn’t want it, we didn’t have it. We lost battles, we lost races.”

Quinnipiac took their first of three leads in the game off of a deflection from Matthew Peca with five minutes remaining in the first. The Bobcats would make it 2-1 early in the second with a power play goal from Bryce Van Brabant in the first two minutes.

They carried the 2-1 lead into the third period before giving up two goals in a minute and 12 seconds apart. One came on the national best Saints power play, the other at even strength.

Senior captain Cory Hibbeler said the penalty to Connor Jones late in the period was what threw the team off their game.

“Then we took a penalty, and hit the panic button a little bit,” he said. “They got a lucky one there, but I think when you work hard you get those kind of chances. We didn’t play as hard tonight.”

The Bobcats are set to visit No. 13 ranked rival Yale University next Friday. Hibbeler believes the team can move forward from the loss and use it to motivate them in key upcoming games.

“We didn’t have the intensity that we wanted, and we’re going to be better,” Hibbeler said. “It’s a learning moment for us and we gotta take it and move on.”

The men’s team will visit Yale in New Haven Friday, Feb. 14 and Brown University Saturday, Feb. 15.