MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – Another memorable chapter was written into the short history between Lindenwood and Lake Superior State hockey on Thursday night. In front of a rowdy and multitudinous crowd at Centene Community Ice Center, the Lions (1-1-0) erased a three-goal second period deficit to claim their second consecutive victory by a score of 7-4 over the Lakers (0-1-0, 0-0-0 CCHA).
But to come back you have to fall behind, and that is just what Lindenwood did in the first period, with Lake Superior State scoring a pair of goals in the game's first six and a half minutes – including an opener scored and assisted by former LU standouts
Charles Savoie and
Nolan Seed – to take 2-0 lead.
The Lions' first answer came just past the halfway point of the first period, as
Caden Brown was able shoot a pass across the crease to a charging
Jake LeBlanc, who buried the puck into the back of the net with a nice backhander to get Lindenwood on the board. Â
However, after a nearly 20-minute-long scoring drought, the Lakers would respond with a
Nolan Seed power play goal at the 11:08 mark of the second period before
Charles Savoie made it a combined hat trick for the former Lions with his second goal of the night less than two minutes later, giving LSSU a commanding 4-1 advantage.
With his team on the brink, Lindenwood forward
Chase LaPinta introduced himself to the LU faithful with a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that was too much for the Lake State goaltender to handle, cutting into the deficit a little over two and a half minutes remaining the second period.
With the crowd back in it, Lindenwood seized on their newfound momentum less than a minute later as
Ethan Zielke got behind the Lakers defense and – after receiving a pass from
Ethan Elias – won his one-on-one against the opposing goalie with a wrister from just inside the left faceoff circle to pull the Lions to within one.
Down a goal following the second intermission, the Lions quickly picked up where they left off before the break, with
Ty Nash getting on the end of a loose puck in front of net and poking it in for the tying score following a
Caden Brown shot that had put the Lake Superior goaltender in a compromising position.
The game would remain tied until the 11:58 mark of the third period, when the Lions took their first lead of the night with a
Brady McIsaac goal off a rebound following shots in short succession by
Connor Gengle and
Adam Raesler left the Laker goalie scrambling once again.
Lindenwood was able to preserve the lead entering the contest's final minutes, forcing LSSU to pull their goalie in order to gain a man advantage offensively. However, the move quickly backfired with
Caden Brown scoring an empty net goal from his own defensive zone to expand the lead before
Adam Raesler added an empty netter of his own for good measure with 13 seconds remaining in the game.
Notables
