Quinnipiac has made it a habit of coming back late in games recently. But Friday night, it was Cornell who came back to tie the game at two with less than five minutes left in the third period.
“Gartsy (Garteig) gets taken out there and I thought they’d wave the goal off, but that’s life and we got to move on and get ready for Colgate.”
Cornell’s (11-7-4, 6-6-3 ECAC) Mitch Vanderlaan scored the game-tying goal at 17:18 of the third period after Michael Garteig was lost in an entanglement of red and yellow jerseys.
“It’s a frustrating play because it’s a turnover in our zone with limited time in the game we got to bear down and make those plays.” Garteig said. “More importantly I couldn’t really move much on that play, puck squirts out to a guy. You got two guys lying in my crease, unfortunately I can’t really get out to the guy.”
Garteig finished the game with 22 saves, while his counterpart Mitch Gillam finished with 39 saves. Gillam boasted tremendous athleticism on a lot of saves, especially on a couple two-on-one chances for Quinnipiac (20-1-6, 11-0-4 ECAC) in the second period.
“I thought Mitch Gillam was really good, stole a point for Cornell tonight.” Pecknold said. “They’re goaltending was fantastic.”
Quinnipiac’s offense was fueled by its powerplay as it went two-for-three on the man advantage. Sam Anas netted his 18th goal of the season for the Bobcats on the man advantage. Anas briefly left the game in the third period but returned a few minutes later.
“I think he’s playing well, he’s confident. He’s been trying to round out his 200-foot game. He’s been getting better all season. All three years that he’s been here I think its just a natural progression for him.”
Quinnipiac earns its 26th point and remains in first place in the ECAC. Cornell is in a tie with Clarkson at seventh with 15 points.
Quinnipiac returns to High Point Solutions Arena Saturday to play Colgate at 7 p.m.
Extras:
Derek Smith:
Derek Smith was a late scratch for the Bobcats and was replaced by Luke Shiplo. Smith leads the Bobcats in plus-minus at plus-18.
Offense:
Quinnipiac struggled at even strength all night. Cornell’s size clogged up passing lanes and the neutral zone. The Bobcats had 41 shots on goal and were only able to get two past Gillam on the powerplay.
“We need to score more goals,” Pecknold said. “I thought we deserved a better fate, but that’s life.”
