Following their hot start to the season, the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team faced off against the Bowling Green Falcons Friday night – the first time these two teams have faced each other.

The No. 11 Bobcats couldn’t follow up their back-to-back wins over Sacred Heart, losing decisively to the 12th-ranked Falcons. Just a few days after the Bobcats scored nine goals against Sacred Heart, the offense couldn’t seem to get into a rhythm, failing to control the game in a 4-1 loss.

Bowling Green came into tonight’s game averaging 43 shots on goal per game over their first seven contests. They continued their dominance on the offensive end against Quinnipiac from the very beginning of the game. The Falcons outshot the Bobcats 17-2 in the first period. Through the first 40 minutes of play, Quinnipiac mustered just seven shots. By the third period, the Bobcats’ offense had some life, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.

Bowling Green, on the other hand, was able to create shots early. Alex Barber scored their first goal of the game with 14:19 left in the first period on a deflection in front of the net. Then, the Falcons’ Taylor Schneider got a little help from Lady Luck when a puck ricocheted off Quinnipiac defender Iivari Räsänen’s skate and into the goal to make it 2-0 on their second power play goal.

Additionally, two of the Falcons’ four goals came when Quinnipiac goalie Keith Petruzzelli was pulled from the net in the third period. The senior goalie made 35 saves on a night where Bowling Green dominated the time of possession on the Bobcats’ side of the ice.

“We left him out to dry” senior captain Odeen Tufto said. “I think physically we were ready to go, but mentally we weren’t there.”

Quinnipiac scored their only goal of the evening when Nick Bochen cut the Falcons’ deficit to 3-1 with 5:03 remaining in the third period. Bowling Green eventually capitalized in the remaining minutes with another empty-netter to extend their lead to 4-1.

Power plays proved to be another area Bowling Green had the upper hand in tonight. They scored their first two goals of the night on the man advantage, and Quinnipiac couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities, including a rare 4-on-3 power play.

The power play unit that started the year 3-5 is now 0-for-its-last-15, something not lost on head coach Rand Pecknold.

“I just they just outcompeted us,” Pecknold said. “They were hungry. They had emotion… Unfortunately for us, we struggled and we didn’t do a good job of hitting the reset button.”

The Bobcats will get that chance to reset shortly. They play Bowling Green again in the second part of their back-to-back tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.