With Robert Morris (Ill.) scoring in the first 21 seconds, it looked like it might be a long game, but the Lions responded with seven goals of their own in the first period on the way to an 8-1 victory and sweep of the Eagles Saturday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
It took Lindenwood three minutes to counter the opening tally from Robert Morris as
Colton Craigo split the pipes off a feed from
Aapo Nurminen at 3:20 in the opening period.
Victor Lombardi assisted
Braden Shea for the next goal at 6:34 and the offense rolled from there. Back-to-back shots from
Alex Kalau lit the lamp at 7:27 and 7:54 with help from
Austin Wilk and
Kyler Newman respectively. About three minutes later, a
Brendan Murphy drive found its mark on a play set up by Nurminen and
Tommy Heinzman at 10:52 to make it 5-1 Lions, and then Nurminen and Wilk combined forces to put the puck on the blade of
Vegard Faret for a shot to the back of the net at 12:50. It looked like that would be the last goal of the opening 20 minutes, but Nurminen had other ideas as he sounded the horn with just one second remaining off a pass from Wilk and Lindenwood took a 7-1 lead at the first intermission.
After the flurry of scoring in the first period, the second proved to be more of a defensive battle with both teams getting shut out. That trend continued into the third until Newman and Kalau set up Murphy at 7:52 to make it 8-1.
Three Lions earned three points or more, led by Nurminen with a total of four on three assists and one goal. Kalau had three points on two goals and an assist, and Wilk had three assists in the game. Lindenwood outshot Robert Morris by almost a four-to-one margin 58-15, and
Cooper Seedott stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced to earn the win in goal.
The victory lifts the Lions to 8-2-0 overall and to 6-0-0 in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League. Lindenwood will host Davenport University in a two-game series November 9-10 at home. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
