ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst men's ice hockey team scored four power-play goals and held off Holy Cross for a 6-5 win during Athletic Hockey action on Friday in front of 1,053 fans at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
 
Bryan Sienerth scored two goals while Jack Riley and Les Lancaster finished with three-point nights as both recorded one goal and two assists. Wes Baker and Joshua Lammon also scored goals for the Lakers.

Derek Barach and Zach Todd each had two assists while Patrick Piacentini and Michael Verboom contributed single assists for Mercyhurst (14-10-4, 11-7-4).

As a team, the Lakers went 4-for-5 on the power play -- marking the second time this season the Lakers have had four power-play tallies. Mercyhurst is now unbeaten in eight straight games, going 6-0-2 in that stretch, giving the program its longest unbeaten stretch since a 6-0-2 run in 2014 (Feb. 14-Mar. 15).

Peter Crinella scored two goals while Kevin Darrar, Will Brophy and Ryan Ferrill each scored one goal for Holy Cross (12-12-7, 11-8-6).

One minute and eighteen seconds into the first period, Darrar scored to put Holy Cross on the board first. T.J. Moore and Johnny Coughlin had assists.

Later in the first, Holy Cross went up by two with a goal from Crinella. Dalton Skelly picked up an assist.

With 2:52 remaining in the opening period, the Lakers capitalized on the power play to trim the Holy Cross lead to 2-1. Lancaster intercepted a Crusader clear attempt and and beat Holy Cross goaltender Paul Berrafato to the left side.

During the second period, Sienerth tied the game at 2-2. Todd chipped the puck behind the net to Riley, who slid it to Sienerth. Sienerth one-timed the puck past the right side of Berrafato. 

The Lakers gained their first lead with 3:54 left in the second. Riley scored a power-play goal after pounding on a Lancaster rebound. Barach also had an assist on the play as he had set up Lancaster on the left point.

Holy Cross evened the score at 3-all early in the third. Brophy had the goal with assists from Danny Lopez and Tommy Muratore.

Then Mercyhurst scored three straight goals before HC came back with two before the clock hit zeroes.

Baker gave Mercyhurst a 4-3 edge with assists from Piacentini and Verboom. Verboom won a faceoff in MU's zone and slid the puck back to Piacentini, who sent the puck to Holy Cross' end of the ice where Baker picked up the puck and found the back of the net.

Three minutes later, Lammon scored on the power play. He and a Holy Cross player were fresh out of the penalty box, turning a 4-on-3 Mercyhurst advantage into a 5-on-4. Lammon then found the net eight seconds after he was freed. Riley passed the puck to Barach from behind the Crusader net and then Barach passed it up to Lammon, who scored to make it 5-3.
 
Sienerth scored his second goal of the game to put the Lakers up 6-3. While on the power play, Lancaster dished the puck to Todd, who skated it and passed across ice to Sienerth, who scored on a wide-open net.

One minute later, Crinella scored his second of the night to make it 6-4. Skelly had an assist.
 
Holy Cross pulled Berrafato and capitalized on it with a goal from Moore.
 
The Lakers held on from there to win.

"I thought we had a slow start in the first period, but we stayed nice and calm on the bench and our guys plugged away and I think we felt like we knew we'd be able to score some goals," said Head Coach Rick Gotkin.

Laker goaltender Brandon Wildung stopped 28 shots in net for Mercyhurst. Berrafato made 32 saves for the Crusaders.

Mercyhurst held the HC power play scoreless in three chances.

The two teams will be back in action Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the MIC.