Men's Hockey Puts Scare Into No. 1 Cornell Before Falling, 5-3

Saturday, February 1

Princeton, N.J.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

3-13-4, 1-9-3

Cornell

15-2-4, 10-2-2

Cornell

Princeton

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Men's Hockey Puts Scare Into No. 1 Cornell Before Falling, 5-3

February 01, 2020 | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

PRINCETON – Special teams ruled the night in front of a sell-out crowd at Hobey Baker Rink as Princeton and No. 1 Cornell combined for six power-play goals. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Big Red netted the game's other two goals and emerged with a 5-3 win.

The Tigers scored three power-play goals in the game, their most since connecting for four against Brown on March 2, 2018. The three powerplay goals allowed were the most by the Big Red since Union scored three on February 24, 2018 – a span of 60 games.

A pair of goals in a span of 1:36 staked the Big Red to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period. The first came during a delayed penalty on the Tigers as Max Andreev redirected an Alex Green wrister from the point. Just past the midway part of the first, Cornell was on a 5-on-3 and Andreev had a centering pass bounce around before it ultimately fluttered off Tristan Mullin and then a Princeton defender before just crossing over the line to give the Big Red a two-goal lead.

The Tigers only had three shots in the second period, but Princeton scored on two of them to level the game at 2-2 after 40:00.

Both goals were power-play scores, the first coming with 6:04 left in the second period off the stick of Mark Paolini. His shot from the high point went off the post and in, set up by patient passing from Luke Keenan and Derek Topatigh.

Pay Dirt For Paolini!

PPG Off The Post And In!

Tigers trail, 2-1! pic.twitter.com/2eQKI50Thj
— Princeton University Hockey (@princetonhockey) February 2, 2020

Just under four minutes later, Spencer Kersten finished a clean breakout with a high-glove snipe over the shoulder of Matthew Galajda. A nifty drop pass from Corey Andonovski left Kersten with plenty of space to step into his wrist shot and tie the game.

Spencer Kersten!

High glove snipe ties the game after 40:00 pic.twitter.com/SKE1R5VYSB
— Princeton University Hockey (@princetonhockey) February 2, 2020

Two goals 0:51 apart for Cornell early in the third period broke the tie and gave the Big Red a 4-2 lead. Alex Green struck first, scoring a power-play goal from the high slot that just slipped under Forget's glove with 14:54 left in the third. Moments later, a Princeton turnover behind its own goal found the stick of Noah Bauld who passed over to an open Ben Tupker who deked before backhanding home to give Cornell a two-goal lead.

Liam Grande answered for the Tigers with 11:56 remaining, scoring Princeton's third power-play goal of the game. The Tigers needed just 0:08 on the mand advantage to score, as Liam Grande corralled the rebound of Matthew Thom's offering and quickly found Grande who one-timed a shot from the goalmouth by Galajda's blocker.

Hangin' Around...

Liam Grande goes to the crease and bangs home Cressey's pass for Princeton's 3rd PPG of the night! pic.twitter.com/On7DGewE7X
— Princeton University Hockey (@princetonhockey) February 2, 2020

The Big Red iced the game with their third power-play goal of the game, Tristan Mullin scoring with 0:50 remaining.

Princeton hits the road next weekend, heading to New England for a trip to Brown (2/7) and Yale (2/8).