WORCESTER, Mass. – The Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team closed its four-game road trip in emphatic fashion on Saturday night, trouncing the Holy Cross Crusaders 6-0 in a matchup of two of Atlantic Hockey's top four teams. Niagara scored four times in a stretch of 5:42 late in the first period and never looked back, adding two third-period goals and outshooting Holy Cross 41-26 en route to the victory.
 
Stanislav Dzakhov scored his first career hat trick to power the Niagara offense, while Nic Mucci added three assists for his first career multiple-point game and Derian Plouffe scored his team-best 14th goal. Between the pipes, Brian Wilson earned his first career shutout in his 21st consecutive start, making 26 saves.
 
Game Summary

• Final Score: Niagara 6, Holy Cross 0
• Niagara Goal Scorers: Stanislav Dzakhov (3), Sean King, Derian Plouffe, Kris Spriggs
• Niagara Assists: Eric Cooley, Nick Farmer, Chris Harpur (2), Tyler Hayes, Justin Kendall, Nic Mucci (3), Kris Spriggs, Jack Zielinski
• In Goal: Brian Wilson (9-12-2) – 0 GA, 26 SV, SO
• Power Plays: Niagara – 0-for-3 (6 SOG); Holy Cross – 0-for-3 (3 SOG)
• Records: Niagara – 11-13-2 (10-8-2 AHC); Holy Cross – 10-9-7 (9-5-6 AHC)
• Location: Hart Center – Worcester, Massachusetts
• Attendance: 851

Game Recap

• Both teams played tight defense early in the game, with just two shots on goal aside through the first six minutes of the game. Through the remainder of the first period, Niagara took over offensively, outshooting Holy Cross 13-3 and tallying four goals to take a commanding early lead.
• The Purple Eagles started their run of four goals in 5:42 at the 12:25 mark of the first. Nic Mucci fed Eric Cooley up the left wing boards, and on the rush, Cooley dropped a pass to Stanislav Dzakhov who ripped his wrist shot top-shelf to open the scoring.
• Just before the 14-minute mark, Mucci spun around for a long backhand shot from the high slot, and Kris Spriggs tipped the shot down and past Crusaders goaltender Paul Berrafato to double the Niagara lead.
• 15 seconds later, Justin Kendall and Derian Plouffe broke 2-on-2 into the Holy Cross end. Kendall fed the puck for Plouffe towards the Holy Cross crease, and Plouffe wrestled his way to the puck and poked it past Berrafato for the 3-0 lead.
• With just under two minutes left in the period, Jack Zielinski fed a puck from the point behind the goal line for Nick Farmer. Farmer worked the puck out to Dzakhov in the low slot, and the Russian senior buried his shot for his second tally of the period.
• Holy Cross retaliated strong in the second period, peppering Niagara's Brian Wilson with 15 shots on net, but Wilson was up to task on each of them. The biggest save came eight minutes into the period with the Crusaders' leading goal scorer, Scott Pooley, in on a breakaway from the right wing, but Wilson turned away the shot with the pad.
• Niagara held Holy Cross at bay in the third period and Dzakhov pushed the lead to 5-0 to cap his hat trick at the 7:46 mark. Farmer and Spriggs forced a turnover in the Holy Cross slot, and Dzakhov buried his own rebound in close with Berrafato to extend the lead.
• With 9:25 to play, Sean King outhustled the Holy Cross defense behind the net, wrapped around to the slot, and beat Berrafato for his fifth goal of the season to make it 6-0.
• Wilson came up with another huge save with 2:25 to play on a 2-on-1 shot from Holy Cross' Kevin Darrar, preserving the shutout bid through the final buzzer.

 
Coach's Corner

• Head coach Jason Lammers: "Our guys have been waiting a while and putting in a tremendous amount of work to get a win like this and it's satisfying to see their efforts rewarded. There were parts of the game we want to improve, but it was most impressive to see what we could do when we got the early lead and built momentum as the game went on. Many of our goals were the result of doing the little things right, getting pucks to the net, and finishing close to the goal."

 
Inside the Numbers

• Niagara scored four goals in the first period to tie a season-high, the Purple Eagles' first four-goal period since Oct. 28, 2017 at Sacred Heart. That 6-2 October win over the Pioneers was also Niagara's last time scoring six goals in a game.
• The Purple Eagles moved to 11-1-1 on the season when scoring three or more goals.
• Niagara's 41 shots on goal were the second-most by the team this season, after outshooting Sacred Heart 42-15 in a 3-2 win on Oct. 27, 2017.
• Stanislav Dzakhov scored his first career hat trick with two goals in the first and the first of Niagara's pair in the final period. It was the second career game with multiple goals for Dzakhov, who led Niagara to a 4-1 win in game three of the 2017 AHC First Round and a series upset of RIT with two goals and one assist.
• Dzakhov also tied for the most shots on goal in a game by a Purple Eagle this season with eight.
• Nic Mucci assisted on the first two Niagara goals and the team's final goal by Sean King. It was his first career game with multiple points and the first three-assist game by a Purple Eagle this season.
• Derian Plouffe scored one goal and now leads the Purple Eagles in both goals (14) and points (28) on the season. He moved into a tie with Holy Cross' Scott Pooley for third in the AHC in total points. Plouffe is now on a three-game point streak (1+2).
• Niagara was the first team to score six goals on Holy Cross this season and handed the Crusaders just their second loss in 11 home conference games.

 
Up Next

• With a stretch with four straight road games and 12 out of 16 on the road now concluded, Niagara returns to Dwyer Arena next weekend with two games against the Air Force Falcons on the schedule. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. on both Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27, and Paul Hamilton has the play-by-play call on WLVL 1340 AM.

 
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