ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Special teams figured to be key in No. 19 Niagara's (13-6-3) contest at RIT (10-7-2), and that was exactly the case in Niagara’s 5-3 victory on the road, in front of a sold out crowd Ritter Arena, Saturday. Both team’s power plays ranked in the top 10 in the nation, but it was the Purple Eagle penalty kill that stole the show in the victory.

Goaltender Allen Barton (Spencerport, N.Y.) made a career-high 38 saves in front of his hometown crowd to improve to 4-0-1. Senior Sean Bentivoglio (Thorold, Ont.) and Matt Caruana (Orono, Ont.) combined on a pair of short-handed goals, including the game winner twenty seconds into the final period. The penalty killing unit held RIT scoreless on three chances.

“Our penalty kill won the game for us tonight,” Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder said. “The short-handed goals were key, but, as always, the most important player on the penalty kill is the goalie, and Allen was tremendous.”

At the end of the second period, Les Reaney (Ceylon, Sask.) was whistled for an elbowing penalty, putting the Tigers on the power play at the beginning of the third period. RIT won the opening faceoff, but Caruana stole the puck and fed a streaking Bentivoglio entering the zone. After a quick deke, the senior captain switched the puck to his backhand and flipped it over the netminder’s skate for a 4-2 lead just twenty seconds into the frame. The game-winning tally was Bentivoglio’s eighth of his career.

Barton made it stand up, though, playing his best game of his career in net. He made a brilliant glove save while RIT was on the man advantage in the third, and made one of the most bizarre saves of the year in the second. After a sharp slapshot from the left side, Barton lost sight of the puck as it trickled to his feet. The Tiger forward tried to poke it through, but it deflected off the netminder’s skates and slowly stopped inches in front of the goal line. Barton, still unaware of the puck’s location, sat down on the cylinder, preventing it from lighting the lamp.

“The number of saves doesn’t really matter that much to me,” Barton said. “As long as the team gets the win, that’s all that matters. Even if I get just 10 saves, I’m happy.”

While Bentivoglio’s short-hander proved to be the game winner, the pair teamed up for another goal while a man down as the first period was winding down. Bentivoglio stole the puck in the defensive zone and was tripped from behind, as a delayed penalty was about to be called. Caruana picked up the puck and raced down the sheet beating Tiger goalie Louis Menard up top for a 2-1 lead.

Freshman Egor Mironov (Thornhill, Ont.) added a power-play goal in the win, the 35th goal scored by Niagara with an advantage, the most in the nation.

Scott Langdon (Ancaster, Ont.) and Nate Bostic (Holden, Mass.) got the Niagara scoring started in the first. Langdon fired a slap shot from the center point as Bostic snuck in behind Menard, deflecting the puck in the net to even the score at 1-1. Langdon added another assist, giving him two helpers on his 22nd birthday.

The Purple Eagles, who improved to 14-3-3 as a ranked team in school history, travel to No. 8 Denver for a two-game road series, Jan. 12-13. The opening game can be seen live on RTN Channel 11 at 9:30 p.m.