ROCHESTER, N.Y. - First, the bad news. The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team dropped an 8-0 decision at Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday night in game one of a crucial two-game series. But, now, the good news. The Lakers still have an opportunity to clinch a first-round bye, and a home series in the quarterfinals, when they conclude the weekend series against the Tigers on Saturday night at the Gene Polisseni Center.

With the loss, Mercyhurst has now dropped three straight to fall to 16-13-4 overall and 14-10-3 in the Atlantic Hockey Conference standings. RIT improved to 14-14-5 overall and 13-9-5 in conference play. The two teams are now tied for fourth in the standings with 31 points, but Mercyhurst now needs a win on Saturday night to play a quarterfinal series at the Mercyhurst Ice Center the weekend of March 13, 14, and 15.

The Tigers scored three goals in the first period, three more in the second, and added two in the third to hand Mercyhurst the program's most lopsided setback since an 8-0 loss at Air Force on February 17, 2012.

Matt Garbowsky (4:07), Brad McGowan (9:50), and Matt Abt (18:33) each scored first period goals to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead against freshman goaltender Brandon Wildung. RIT outshot Mercyhurst by a 16-8 margin in the opening twenty minutes.

Garbowsky added his second of the game at 3:01 of the second, which was followed by a goal from Andrew Miller at 6:15 to give the hosts a 5-0 advantage and to force a Mercyhurst goaltending change. However, Garbowsky completed the hat trick against sophomore goaltender Spencer Bacon at 11:21 of the middle stanza for a 6-0 RIT lead after two periods.

Shots were even in the second period, 11-11.

McGowan added his second of the game just 54 seconds into the third while Caleb Cameron finished off the scoring at the 3:42 mark of the final period.

RIT outshot Mercyhurst 17-6 in the third period and held a 44-25 shot advantage for the contest.

Garbowsky had three goals and an assist while Josh Mitchell had four helpers to lead the Tigers in scoring. McGowan chipped in with two goals and an assist.

Wildung suffered the worst start of his young career, playing just 26:15 and allowing five goals on 21 shots. He dropped to 8-7-3 on the season. Bacon played the final 33:45 and stopped 20-of-23. RIT's Mike Rotolo pitched the shutout, stopping all 25 shots he faced to improve to 8-6-1 on the season.

RIT was 1-for-3 on the power play and also tallied a shorthanded goal. Mercyhurst was 0-for-3 with the skater advantage.

Mercyhurst will look to put Friday's game behind them and will attempt to clinch fourth-place in the Atlantic Hockey Conference standings when it plays the final regular season game of the year on Saturday night against RIT. Faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m.