The ice tilted in Quinnipiac’s favor Monday night as the No. 11 Bobcats took down Holy Cross 6-1. Desi Burgart netted two goals and first-year Christophe Fillion earned his first collegiate point in the game.

Coming into this series, Holy Cross killed 89.5% of its penalties and converted on 18.2% of its power plays. Quinnipiac took advantage of those special teams, going 2-4 on the power play and picking up their first shorthanded goal of the season.

After being swept by Bowling Green last weekend, this is exactly what the team needed to get back in the win column.

“I thought it was a good win,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We worked on a couple of things and obviously it paid off tonight.”

Desi Burgart started off the scoring for Quinnipiac after a nice feed from Gus Van Nes behind the net. Fillion would get the secondary assist, giving him his first collegiate point.

About seven minutes later, captain Odeen Tufto scored his second goal of the season on the power play, finding the puck in the slot and roofing it above goaltender Matt Radomsky. Zach Metsa assisted on the goal which gives him points in all five games so far this season.

“[Metsa’s] playing with a lot of confidence and he’s getting more ice time which he’s earned and deserved,” Pecknold said. “His buy-in is excellent, he’s got blind faith in the coaching staff. When we tell him to do something, he does it every time.”

There would be no more action in the first period, but the Bobcats started the second on the power play after Crusaders forward Anthony Vincent received a 5-minute major and game misconduct for boarding CJ McGee.

It only took a minute into the second period for Quinnipiac to capitalize, as a Tufto rebound was cleaned up by Ethan de Jong for his second of the season and fourth power-play goal of his career.

“We just simplified [the power play] a little bit,” de Jong said. “A couple changes and it’s been working out.”

🚨QUINNIPIAC POWER PLAY GOAL🚨

The Bobcats take advantage of the major penalty as Ethan De Jong extends the lead to 3-0 in the opening minutes of the second period.

🍎: Peter DiLiberatore, Odeen Tufto

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— Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network (@QBSN) December 22, 2020

Halfway through the period, Wyatt Bongiovanni picked up the puck on the penalty kill and took it to the net himself, sliding it under Radomsky’s pads for the team’s first short-handed goal this season.

Ty Smilanic wrapped up the period, scoring his second of the season with a buzzer-beater with 1.8 seconds left.

Burgart put a bow on Quinnipiac’s strong performance with a goal to start the third period as his confidence and offensive capability continues to grow early in the season.

“I’ve adapted myself since coming here to play defense,” Burgart said. “I think confidence plays a big part in my game and right now I got it going so hopefully I can keep it going.”

The Bobcats improve to 3-2 on the season and will look to continue their strong play when they head to Worcester, Massachusetts tomorrow to take on Holy Cross again at 5:00 pm.