Box Score Ruffolo, Learned Hit Net For Yale
BOSTON, Mass. – An early lead was not enough to carry the Bulldogs to a road win at a Hockey East venue. Mike McMurtry scored a power-play goal at 16:46 of the third period to cap Northeastern's come-from-behind, 3-2, victory over Yale at Matthews Arena.
The Huskies erased a 2-0 deficit with three straight goals to increase their unbeaten streak to five games. The Bulldogs (8-4-2), who had a slight edge in shots, had their win streak end at two games.
Yale, hoping to run its unbeaten string against Hockey East teams to six games, was putting early pressure on the home team's net and creating a number of great scoring chances. However, a good bounce of the puck was required for the Blue to finish off one of those opportunities.
Trent Ruffolo's shot from low in the left circle went off one Northeastern player's skate in the circle and then another's in the slot before sliding behind the goalie on the far post. The senior left wing got the puck on a rebound of a Nate Repensky shot that bounced off the back boards and squirted out on the left side.
The lead increased to 2-0 a few minutes later when Cody Learned fired low glove side from the top of the right circle. The junior winger took a drop pass from junior center Carson Cooper, who got it from senior defenseman Matt Killian. The Eli blueliner picked up the puck along the boards in front of his own bench.
It was the fourth goal of the season for both Ruffolo and Learned, whose shot barely eluded Derick Roy's glove.
The visitor's won many puck battles, had a ferocious fore-check and cycled the rubber crisply and quickly, but there were other contributing factors to the two-goal lead at intermission. The Elis, outshot 10-9, got an outstanding period by Alex Lyon (25 saves), who was called on to make two or three point-blank stops. In fact, two of the saves were bang-bang shots, and one of those snapped his goalie stick into two pieces.
"I felt like we didn't have to work hard for our goals in the first period, and that sometimes lulls you into a false sense of security," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach.
Yale won the first period, but the home team took the second. The Huskies cut the lead in half with just three second left in a power play and then evened the score two nearly two minutes later.
The Bulldogs had the edge in third without anyone scoring until Rob O'Gara was called for tripping with 4:01 left. NU found the net with 3:14 left on a short, one-timer from the slot.
Lyon came off for the extra skater with 51 seconds left but the Elis managed just one shot on net.
BULLDOG BITES
The Bulldogs take on Harvard in the Rivarly on Ice Part II on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Tickets are still available for the 8 p.m. start… Yale, No. 14 in the Pairwise Rankings (computer), is ranked 19th in this week's uscho.com poll (voting), its first national ranking this season… The one change to the lineup from Saturday night was John Hayden in at forward for Charles Orzetti… Yale assistant coach Jason Guerriero returned to the arena where he played his college hockey and is the only NU player to lead Hockey East in goals for a season… Face-offs were even after two periods; it finished 35-29 for NU.
Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
photo by richimagesphotography.com
