PAWTUCKET, R.I. – Five unanswered goals in the third period, including two from junior Angus Johnston (Calgary, Alta.), erased a 2-1 deficit and lifted the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team to a 6-2 win over Johnson & Wales University in a Commonwealth Coast Conference contest Thursday night.
The Leopards pick up their first victory of the season, improving to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in CCC play while the Wildcats fall to 1-3 (1-2).
Wentworth wasted little time taking a 1-0 lead as the Leopards scored on the first shot attempt of the contest. Junior Paul Filippone, III (Cranston, R.I.) scored at the 1:27 mark from sophomore CJ Grinnell (Burlington, Mass.) and sophomore Connor Busch (Lake in the Hills, Ill.).
Johnson & Wales scored a pair of goals in a span of 3:20 to take a 2-1 lead. At 15:49 of the opening frame, junior Chad Guderian (Coppell, Texas) netted a power-play tally from sophomore Kevin McDonald (Ashburn, Va.) and freshman Graham Day (Rochester, Mich.). With 51 seconds remaining in the period, junior Zachary England (Redbank, N.J.) scored from junior Victor Carlsson (Kalmar, Sweden) to give the Wildcats a 2-1 edge.
After a scoreless middle period which saw Wentworth hold a 9-5 shot advantage, the Leopards answered with five tallies in a span of 7:52 to reclaim the lead for good. At the 9:50 mark, sophomore Connor Beaudet (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored from senior Jake McDonough (Marshfield, Mass.) and Johnston, while freshman Jake Hallisey (Quincy, Mass.) tallied his first collegiate goal, coming on the power play from sophomore Georgy Gorodetskii (Yekaterinsburg, Russia) and junior Ethan Weiss (Troy, Mich.), at 13:31 to make it a 3-2 game.
Beaudet and Busch fed Johnston for his second of the game at 15:25 before Filippone and junior Emile Levesque (Lac Beauport, Que.) assisted on sophomore CJ Grinnell's (Burlington, Mass.) marker 56 seconds later giving the visitors a 5-2 advantage. Beaudet fed Johnston for an empty-net marker at 17:42 to complete the scoring.
Johnston finished with two goals and an assist while Beaudet (one goal, two assists), Filippone (one goal, one assist, Grinnell (one goal, one assist), and Busch (two assists) also had multiple-point games.
Senior Ryan Hubbard (West Roxbury, Mass.) made 20 saves to pick up the win while freshman Mike Rockwell (Poughquag, N.Y.) made 26 saves in the loss. Wentworth had a 32-22 shot advantage.
The two teams wrap up their home-and-home series on Saturday afternoon in Everett, Mass.
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