Waltham, Ma. — The opening game between the Lakers and Falcons ended in a 4-0 shutout victory for Bentley. Both squads played aggressively and had big chances on goal despite the scoreline, but the Lakers were ultimately burned by power play goals in the end. Mercyhurst will have to look to bounce back tomorrow for a series split in the closing game of the series before heading back to Erie.
How It Happened
The game was held scoreless in the opening minutes of the game, with huge credit to the Lakers ever-solid goalie Owen Say who made a slew of saves in the opening ten minutes. The best chance for the Lakers in the period came seconds after Bentley picked up a penalty kill as Spencer Smith hit the goalie square before Barrett Brooks hit pipe on a rebounded shot. Shortly after, the Falcons went on their own power play and capitalized only 12 seconds into it. Former Laker Jonathan Bendorf slid it up to Josh Latta, who softly laid it over to Chase Davis to snipe it past Say's left side. The period ended with another stint of saves from Say with Bentley on the power play again. He ended the first with 14 total saves to keep Mercyhurst in the game at 1-0 heading to the second.
Both teams got big chances in the second. Steven Agriogianis got his second shot of the day, but could only find the chest of Bentley netminder Connor Hasley. On the other end, Kolby Amici almost doubled the Falcons lead, just missing by hitting pipe instead of the back of the net. The Lakers were able to kill the first power play opportunity for Bentley in the period with blocks and saves from Say coming aplenty, notably by Beaune who shielded the goal with his back. The Falcons returned the favor by stopping the Lakers power play in the period, who went 5v3 for around 40 seconds. Despite Mercyhurst fully testing Connor Hasley in the period, it headed to the final period still at 1-0.
Bentley started off the third period getting a big penalty kill, which could've had a huge momentum shift otherwise. Kyler Head had the best look on a log jam near the Falcons goal, not able to break through Hasley who was putting together a top performance. The home team went on the power play again soon after, still within the opening five minutes of the half. Only five seconds later, they finally got the goal to double their lead. Josh Latta won the face-off for Bentley and it fell to Garrett Horsager at the edge of the area to slap it in for a long distance stunner, putting them up 2-0. It counts as the freshman defender's first career gaol.
Quickly after, a five minute power play saw the comeback trail get even longer for the Lakers. Davis picked up his second goal of the game, getting his own rebound and hitting the roof of the net to make it a 3-0 game on their third power play goal. Mercyhurst went empty net for the last three and a half minutes to do what they could to avoid a shutout, but it didn't go according to plan with the Falcons picking up an empty netter. Leading point getter Ethan Leyh got the goal, from the neutral zone, to solidify the 4-0 loss. Hasley also picks up his first career shutout, making 19 saves in the game.
Highlights
Owen Say had 38 saves on 41 shots faced.
Mickey Burns and Ryan Coughlin both had 2 blocks.
Next Up
Mercyhurst and Bentley warp up the series tomorrow, with their date set at a 4:05 puck drop.
