Sophomore wing Jeff Prough scored on a power-play deflection with 6:31 to play in regulation time and sophomore goaltender Adam D’Alba made a career-high 54 saves as 12th-seeded Brown upset fifth seed St. Lawrence, 3-2, Saturday night to force a deciding game three of the ECAC Hockey League playoff series.
Brown (5-19-7) was outshot, 56-13, by the 19-15-2 Saints, but will have a chance to advance in the series as the two teams meet Sunday at 7 p.m. at Appleton Arena, with the winner moving on to the ECACHL quarterfinals.
“What can you say? It was one of those nights where Brown capitalized on a couple of our mistakes and D’Alba was immense,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “We certainly played well enough to win the game, but give Brown credit, they were able to weather the storm and pull one out. It’s up for grabs on Sunday.”
Brown took advantage of two Saint defensive coverage mistakes to grab a 2-0 first period lead. Seth Seidman was all alone in front when Sean Dersch fed him the puck from behind the net at 3:35 for the game’s first goal, and Dersch scored his sixth of the year, again from point-blank range, just under two minutes later on another pass from behind the goal.
Freshman defenseman Jared Ross brought the Saints back to tie the game at 2-2 in the second period with a pair of goals. He scored his fifth of the year on a power play, blasting a shot from the center point which blew past D’Alba at 2:10 and then scored his second of the night and third of the weekend on a shot from the point which went over D’Alba’s glove and into the net at 18:59.
The two goals in Saturday’s game give Ross three for the weekend and four since returning from a ten-game hiatus due to a knee injury.
D’Alba, who had 21 second period saves, added another 18 in the third and kept the Saints at bay despite intense pressure. Prough scored his 15th of the year to win it, deflecting a shot from the point by Chris Poli that hit a Saint defender and caromed into the net behind Saint goalie Justin Pesony, who finished with 10 saves.
“You can’t fault Pesony for any of the goals,” said Marsh. “Brown made good plays to take advantage of a couple of coverage mistakes and it cost us.”
