Goals from four different scorers paced the Quinnipiac Bobcats to a 5-3 victory over the Bentley Falcons on Saturday night.
Sam Anas led the way offensively for the Bobcats with two goals. Matthew Peca and Travis St. Denis also each added a goal and an assist. Goaltender Michael Garteig stopped 14 shots for his first win of the season.
“I think we were fortunate to win even though we did some good things,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “Our power play was good, Peca and Anas did what they were supposed to do, but that’s not how we are supposed to play.”
Max French provided the offensive spark for the Falcons with two goals and an assist. Gabe Antoni turned aside 32 shots in a losing effort.
“He had a great night tonight; I thought he played very hard and was hard on the puck and had a real nice goal on that five-on-three,” said Bentley coach Ryan Soderquist. “That line carried us offensively for most of the game, and I was very pleased to see those guys play that way in the first game.”
Bo Pieper started the scoring just under eight minutes into the game. Pieper caught a pass from Tim Clifton in the slot and shot it toward the net. With traffic in front of the goal, Pieper picked up his own rebound and slid it past the glove side of Antoni.
French answered for Bentley less than six minutes later to tie the game. French got a pass from Steve Weinstein low in the Quinnipiac zone, then worked around a defender, moved toward the front of the net, and beat Garteig to the far side.
St. Denis put Quinnipiac back on top in the final minute of the period. Connor Clifton picked up the puck high in the slot and put a shot on goal. Antoni got a piece of the shot, but the puck trickled through his pads and St. Denis put it into the open net.
Andrew Gladiuk tied the game at two just over eight minutes into the middle frame. French put a hit on Cannon Pieper at the Bentley blue line, picked up the loose puck, and broke toward the Quinnipiac zone. After gaining the zone, French passed the puck to Gladiuk, who skated down the left side of the zone and beat Garteig to the blocker side.
Less than three minutes later, Quinnipiac got a power-play goal from Peca to regain the lead, 3-2. After winning the offensive zone faceoff, Peca received a pass from Devon Toews in the left faceoff circle. He then made a quick move around a Bentley defender and beat Antoni high to the glove side.
The Bobcats added another power-play goal in the opening minute of the third period to take a 4-2 lead. Landon Smith and St. Denis both had opportunities in front of the net before Sam Anas picked up the loose puck and flipped it under the arm of Antoni.
French added his second of the game on a power play to draw Bentley within one goal at 4-3.
Anas capped the scoring in the game with an empty-netter in the final minute of play, his second of the game.
“It was good, not great obviously; it’s the first game, so we have some things we need to touch on and details that we have to fix,” said Peca. “But all in all, I think the effort was there. We worked really hard for 60 minutes and when you’re working, it cleans up on the little things.”
