Niagara University, N.Y.—The Niagara hockey team completed a two-goal comeback on Friday night at Dwyer Arena as they defeated the AIC Yellow Jackets 4-2.
First Period
Niagara and AIC played an opening period in which both teams were clogging the neutral zone as the teams battled for possession. At the first media timeout with 9:56 left on the clock in the first period shots were 5-0 in favor of Niagara.
After the opening 20 minutes Niagara was outshooting AIC 13-3 as neither team found the back of net.
The Purple Eagles killed off a five-minute power play in the first period while allowing just two shots on the power play.
Niagara went 17-6 in the faceoff circle in the first period with Glebs Prohorenkovs having nine wins with a 75.0% winning percentage.
Second Period
The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring at the 6:06 mark of the period while they then scored a power play goal at the 13:06 mark.
Niagara found themselves on the penalty kill with just under four minutes left in the period. Just about 40 seconds into the AIC power play, Shane Ott forced a turnover in the Niagara zone and carried the puck in a on a 2-1. Prohorenkovs was at the end of his shift but hustled to the net. Ott threw a saucer pass to Prohorenkovs who faked to his forehand and went backhand for his fourth goal of the season. For Ott it was his eighth assist of the season, it was Niagara's fifth shorthanded goal of the season.
After 40 minutes of play, Niagara trailed 2-1 as they held a 17-16 lead in shots.
Third Period
The trio of Lars Rodne, Ott, and Jack Richard pressured the Yellow Jackets early in the third period. The Yellow Jackets were hemmed in their zone and Ott picked up the puck in the corner. He passed the puck to the high slot where Richard was, Richard took the pass and rifled home his fifth goal of the season to tie the game at two.
Less than a minute later at the 2:29 mark, Niagara had a faceoff deep in the AIC zone. Prohorenkovs won the faceoff back and Luke Mylymok skated into the puck from the right wing and fired the puck to the top right corner of the net for his team leading eighth goal of the season. Prohorenkovs picked up his sixth assist of the season as the Purple Eagles took a 3-2 lead.
Niagara did their best to keep AIC to the outside as they looked to tie the game. With 1:18 remaining in regulation, Niagara called a timeout following an icing. About 30 seconds later, Lane Brockhoff found Olivier Gauthier in the Niagara zone as they looked to clear the zone. Gauthier flipped the puck into the AIC zone and the puck trickled its way into the vacated net for Gauthier's fourth goal of the season.
Niagara Notes
· It is Niagara's first two goal deficit comeback win since Oct. 29, 2022 at Mercyhurst. They won 3-2 over the Lakers.
· Niagara outshot AIC 30-27. Niagara had 13 shots in both the first and third periods.
· Jarrett Fiske made 25 saves in his first career game against his former team. He moves to 10-7-1 this season with a .912 save percentage and a 2.65 goals-against average.
· Niagara is 9-0-1 this season when scoring four or more goals. In the last two seasons they are 23-0-2 when scoring four or more goals.
· The Purple Eagles improve to 15-20-4 all-time against AIC, it was their first regulation win over AIC since Nov. 24, 2017 at AIC.
· Niagara went 40-27 in the faceoff circle as Prohorenkovs won 15 faceoffs which was tied for a game high.
· It was Prohorenkovs' first multi-point game of the season; it was his fifth career multi-point game.
· Ott notched a pair of assists for his second multi-point game of the season. It was his 13th multi-point game of his career.
· Niagara blocked 14 shots in the win while Brockhoff and Ethan Lund each blocked a team high three.
· The Purple Eagles killed off five of six AIC power plays.
· Niagara is now 3-1-1 in their last five games while picking up 10 points in that span.
Up Next
The Purple Eagles close out the weekend series with AIC on Saturday at Dwyer Arena. Faceoff is scheduled for 5 PM.
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