Notre Dame scored twice in the second period to defeat the Princeton men’s hockey team 2-0 on Saturday night at the Joyce Center. Princeton goaltender Eric Leroux made 28 saves in goal for the Tigers, who fell to 1 -1 on the season.
The two teams skated through a scoreless first period. Despite the lack of scoring, the period was an exciting one as each team fired 13 shots on goal and had three power-play chances. But the strongest play of the period belonged to the goaltenders as Leroux and Notre Dame’s Jordan Pearce both kicked out all 13 shots they face.
Princeton’s best chance to take a lead came when the Tigers had a two-man advantage for 1:48 early in the second period. Princeton had a few good chances but couldn’t crack Pearce. As often happens when one team misses a good opportunity, the other team rebounds and scores on their next chance, and that is what happened as Garrett Regan scored at 3:59. Michael Bartlett created the chance for the Fighting Irish. He threw a big hit in the zone to gain control of the puck and then fed Erik Condra. Condra’s initial shot was saved, but Regan got to the rebound first for the goal.
Notre Dame extended the lead with a goal at the 16:13 mark on the power play. Bartlett got the puck from Wes O’Neill at the point and made a great pass across the seam to Mark Van Guilder. Van Guilder was moving from his spot at the hash marks towards the net and after receiving the pass, fired the puck through a small hole to make the score 2-0 in the favor of Notre Dame.
The score remained the same through a tight-checking third period. Each team took five shots in the period but neither team could score as the game ended with the same 2-0 score.
Pearce made 27 to earn the shutout.
The loss drops Princeton to 1-1 on the season. The Tigers open their ECAC Hockey League and home schedules next weekend when Dartmouth visits Baker Rink on Friday at 7 p.m.
Notre Dame improves to 1-3 and will face Michigan next weekend in CCHA action.
