ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team trailed 3-0 with 6:20 remaining in regulation but its frenetic rally fell a goal short as the visiting Bentley Falcons parlayed a three-goal second period and 24 saves from freshman goaltender Jayson Argue to turn back Mercyhurst, 3-2, on Friday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in the opener of a two-game weekend series. Bentley improved to 12-11-3 overall and to 10-7-3 in the Atlantic Hockey Conference (AHC) standings. The Lakers, struggling to score goals of late, dropped to 12-9-4 and 10-6-3 respectively.

Mercyhurst, ranked tenth in the country in goals per game entering the weekend, has now been held to two goals or less in five of its last six games. Despite the setback, the Lakers still own a 29-13-8 advantage in the all-time series against the Falcons with their home record dropping to 14-4-5 lifetime.

Pending a late result between Robert Morris and Air Force in Colorado, the Lakers and Falcons are now tied for third place in the conference standings with 23 points apiece. Both teams are one point ahead of Air Force, two points clear of Holy Cross, and three ahead of RIT as the league hits the final month of the regular season.

Both teams started their third different goaltender against each other this season as Argue got the call for the Falcons while freshman Brandon Wildung got the nod for the Lakers. The teams combined for 15 shots in the opening period, nine for Bentley, but could not dent the scoreboard.

Things would abruptly change, for the worse, in the middle period. Bentley capitalized on an early second-period power play chance when senior defenseman Steve Weinstein wristed a shot towards the Laker goal that Wildung never saw at 1:28. Andrew Gladiuk and Max French had the assists.

Then, in the oddest of goals, the Falcons doubled the lead less than two minutes later when junior Michael Reardon lit the lamp. Reardon fired a shot from the neutral zone over the Laker goal, but the puck caromed hard off the end wall and bounced off the back of Wildung and into the back of the net.

The lead then grew to three when freshman Ryan McMurphy found the back of the Lakers' net at 11:51, jamming home a centering feed from Gladiuk. French had the other helper on the goal that concluded the second-period scoring.

The Falcons doubled the Lakers in shots, 12-6, in the middle frame.

Mercyhurst sophomore forward Kyle Dutra, playing in his first game since January 13, ruined Argue's bid for a shutout when he collected his eighth goal of the season, with the Lakers working on a 5-on-3 power play, at 13:40 of the third. Seniors Daniel Bahntge and Kyle Just helped. It was Dutra's first goal since scoring against Ohio State on January 2. 

Later in the period and while down a man, the Lakers pulled Wildung and senior forward Zac Frischmon rewarded the strategy with his fifth of the campaign, and his second career shorthanded goal, at 18:30. Dutra had the lone assist. It was Mercyhurst's second shorthanded goal of the season - the other came in a 3-0 win over Robert Morris on December 14.

The Lakers were able to pull Wildung again and had a couple of faceoffs in the offensive zone, but that was as close as the Lakers would get, as there was no "Argue"ing which team had a little better goaltending.

Mercyhurst outshot Bentley 14-7 in the third period but the Falcons outshot the Lakers 28-26 for the game and converted one of four power play chances. The Lakers finished one for five.

Argue, who shut out the AHC's top team, Robert Morris, earlier this month, improved to 5-3-2 while Wildung's record dropped to 4-4-3.

The teams will finish the weekend series on Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.