The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team closed out the month of October with a 4-1 victory over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday night.

The Bobcats looked to bounce back from Friday night’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Black Bears, their third consecutive loss in overtime this season.

Senior transfer from Boston University Vinny Duplessis started the night in net for the Bobcats, looking to recover from his last appearance in the overtime loss against New Hampshire.

“He tracks [the puck] well,” said head coach Rand Pecknold. “He knows how to win big games and he’s really been good all year for us.”

The night featured penalty issues for the Bobcats, as they would be down a player six separate times, including a five-minute penalty for first-year Andon Cebone.

“We have to clean up the penalties, we’ve had a problem with that all year long,” Pecknold said. “We got to grow up a little bit. I think last year we were one or two (in the nation) in least amount of penalties. So we gotta figure that one out.”

The first 10 minutes of the game were filled with defensive stops on both sides. Highlighted by a Quinnipiac penalty kill that found graduate transfer Zach Tupker putting his body on the line blocking a high-velocity shot from first-year Josh Nadeau.

“It’s awesome. I mean you see how hard he works and how much he loves the penalty kill,” said senior defenseman Cooper Moore, “He wants to be that guy. He’s one of the hardest workers on the PK and it really shows… he was almost down the ice more than in the zone on the kill (with the puck) so it was huge for us today.”

The defensive stand on the kill would generate offense for the Bobcats once they returned to even strength with continuous pressure on senior goalie Victor Ostman. However, the Sweden native stood tall and eliminated the pressure without a score.

Maine would start the game in similar fashion from last night, as junior defenseman and team captain David Breazeale struck first over halfway through the period. Assisted by first-year Sully Scholle and junior Cole Hanson, Breazeale’s shot floated over the shoulder of Duplessis for the score.

“We talked about it yesterday, like we’re a young team and we need to do some growing up,” said graduate defenseman CJ McGee on how the Bobcats looked to fight back. “I think we definitely did that a little bit better tonight.”

Quinnipiac would strike right back one minute and ten seconds later, as McGee would score from the blue line off the faceoff to tie the game at one a piece.

“The faceoff play was more of a possession play,” said McGee. “Our fourth line they always get the same play on both sides just try and win it back and possess then figure it out from there and just play hockey. Then just having it come to me, I was like ‘screw it, I’ll just shoot and see what happens to work’ it was pretty nice.”

The second period would feature the Bobcats kicking into a higher gear offensively, as 3:53 into the period, senior forward Travis Treloar would go on a fast break and beat Ostman above his stick while falling down across the crease.

Nearly six minutes later, Quinnipiac would go on the powerplay again after senior captain Lynden Breen would be sent to the box following a slash that induced a small scrum after Duplessis froze the puck against the right post.

On the power play, the Bobcats would add consistent pressure on net with two slapshots from the right circle that Ostman would swat away with his blocker. Following the second deflection that would kill the penalty, a loose puck would find Breen as he was on his way from the box to the Maine bench that he would take for an opportunity that was met by Duplessis.

Quinnipiac would then strike again in the middle frame as Moore and Cebone would connect with first-year forward Mason Marcellus, who pulled off a wrap-around goal for his fourth of the season.

The third period would be filled with defense across both sides as each squad failed to tack on another goal. 

With 2:11 remaining in the game, first-year forward Mathew McGroarty would receive his second penalty of the game, putting Quinnipiac on their sixth penalty kill of the game. Following the call, Maine would pull Ostman to give the Black Bears a six-on-four advantage, which soon backfired after sophomore forward Sam Lipkin sent the puck from the left corner of the Bobcats’ defensive zone all the way into an empty net to ice the game 4-1 for Quinnipiac.

After the weekend split, Quinnipiac sits at 4-3-0 on the season with the Bobcats returning to action on Friday, Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. at Dartmouth.