As a goal scorer, a drought in the goal column can weigh a skater down, on and off the ice.
For Quinnipiac Bobcat Landon Smith, his snipe of a goal in the first period against the Colgate Raiders whisked away a five-week drought in that department as he helped the Bobcats to a 4-1 win.
“Any goal is great. It’s tough when you’re a little snake bitten,” Smith said. “It’s nice to finally get the monkey off your back a little bit.”
Smith notched his sixth goal on the season when he received a pass from linemate Kevin Duane who received a pass from Karlis Cukste. It became a full team effort when Connor Clifton jumped up and joined the rush. Landon, who admitted that he wanted to pass the entire time, looked the defender off and rifled one up and over the left shoulder of Colgate’s Colton Point, getting the puck in under the crossbar.
“I thought it was a great play by ‘Lando’ with the little look off,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “I thought everyone executed with the play.”
The Bobcats continued their full team assault all night as all four of their offensive lines featured a goal scorer and 11 different skaters tallied a point; a different look for a Bobcats, who has struggled at times this season to find their scoring.
“Last year we had guys like Sam Anas and Travis St.Denis that could do some pretty crazy stuff in the offensive zone,” Smith said. “This year we don’t quite have the same thing so every line has to focus on puck protection down low and doing the little things right and when we do that we have success on all four lines.”
Smith’s goal propelled the Bobcats out of the gates offensively and allowed Quinnipiac goalie Andrew Shortridge to settle into the game.
“It’s huge,” Shortridge said about Smith’s early goal. “We get the momentum, we get on them, it just keeps us in attack mode.”
The Alaska native stopped 24 pucks that came across his crease Friday night, allowing Colgate to reach the back of the net just once, when the Raider’s Jared Cockrell scored on the power play with 3:04 left in the second period.
For Smith, the idea of every line chipping in offensively is something he thinks could make the difference down the stretch for the Bobcats as they re-enter into conference play.
“When we have four lines going, there is nobody that can touch us,” Smith said.
