After forcing overtime for a second straight night against No. 10 Clarkson, No. 12 Quinnipiac (7-4-1, 1-2-1 ECAC Hockey) outshot the Golden Knights (7-4-1, 3-1-1 ECAC Hockey) to tough out a victory and win it 4-3 on Saturday night.

A slow start scoring-wise for the Bobcats brought out two big goals for the Golden Knights to take the lead after the first period.

Four minutes into the first, Grant Cooper slipped one in off an assist by Luke Mobley to bring the Golden Knights to a quick 1-0 lead.

Later in the period, Anthony Callin cut through the crease and put one into the net past Keith Petruzzelli to strengthen the lead for the Golden Knights.

With 30 seconds left in the first, Clarkson captain Zach Tsekos had a massive, clean hit against Odeen Tufto that took Tufto out of the game until halfway through the second period. This would be a major blow for the Bobcats offense, but Skyler Brind’Amour was up for the challenge, moving to center for the second period.

In the second, Quinnipiac’s Jayden Lee was quick to score his first goal of the season for the Bobcats to bring them back into the game.

After a nice pass from Brind’Amour to the open slot, Lee ripped one through the crowded net to bring Quinnipiac to a one goal deficit. This would be the only score in the second, but it was a helpful one for the Bobcats.

Fast-forward to the third period, where Clarkson’s Anthony Romano tacked on another goal to bring Clarkson to an even larger 3-1 lead just three minutes into the third.

That lead didn’t last long though, as Desi Burgart had an answer to that with his sixth goal of the season just 30 seconds later.

Burgart got a quick breakaway to a 4-on-1 and ripped one past Clarkson goalie Kris Oldham to bring the score back to a one goal game.

Another six was to come for the Bobcats as Ethan De Jong not only got his sixth goal of the season, all six coming on the power play, three minutes later to tie up the game.

With no answer from the Golden Knights, the Bobcats, with a miraculous comeback, were able to force a second overtime game of the three-game weekend.

Someone had to play hero for Quinnipiac, and it was Desi Burgart who rose to the occasion.

Halfway through the overtime period, Burgart got the win for the Bobcats with a pretty rocket into the net, his seventh goal of the season, making him the star of the game.

“[Burgart has] done a great job all three years of progressing,” Rand Pecknold said. “We’ve been waiting for him to score goals like he has been this year.”

“When the first couple started going in this year, I started getting that confidence,” Burgart said. “I just took my open space, and the goalie was a little off his angle so I just thought I’d shoot and my one thought was don’t miss the net but luckily it went it.”

This is Burgart’s second game this season with two goals, which was enough to lead the Bobcats to victory.

With one of the team’s top goal scorers, Wyatt Bongiovanni, being out, Burgart spoke out about how the team needed someone to fill that void for the Bobcats.

“Obviously with Wyatt out that’s a lot of goals to fill,” Burgart said. “I just thought I should step up.”

Pecknold commented on the mental toughness of the Bobcats and how that plays into the outcome of games.

“Sometimes you get tired mentally more than the physical part of it and then you make mistakes,” Pecknold said. “In the end I think it’s going to be about the mental toughness tomorrow, just locking in on the details and being good on the little things.”

The Bobcats look to maintain that mental toughness to win game three of the series Sunday as they play the Golden Knights again at 4:00 P.M.