Yale started slow and remained close thanks to penalty-killing, defense and goaltending of Ryan Rondeau. Kenny Agostino (two goals) gave the Bulldogs a lead heading into the third period, and they had their way with the Saints over the last 30 minutes.
“We got life from our penalty kills tonight,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “Mason’s line was outstanding; they shut down their big line that has almost half their goals. Rondeau was very, very good as well, particularly early.”
Bit of a melee at the end. Brian O'Neill, after scoring an empty-net goal, was pulled to the ground by St. Lawrence's Sean Flanagan. Yale defenseman Mike Matczak quickly jumped on Flanagan, and Brendan Mason wasn't far behind. Punches were thrown, scrums broke out, but in the end just game misconducts for Matczak, Mason, Flanagan and Jeremy Wick of the Saints. Refs were kind, as it looked like there was cause for game DQ penalties.
Flanagan was also issued a 5-minute major for hitting from behind, but the video showed that call was a little dramatic. Flanagan hooked O'Neill by the arm after the play, and O'Neill crashed hard and awkwardly into the boards. Hate to see plays like Flanagan's -- contact after an empty-net goal is uncalled for -- but it wasn't near the level of cheap shot we saw at Ingalls a couple of years ago when Dartmouth's Joe Stejkal boarded Sean Backman after an empty-net goal. Backman suffered a concussion and missed time; Dartmouth, in a rather unclassy move, tried to defend Stejkal's actions in a press release when the ECAC suspended Stejkal one game for the hit.
Yale is now 17-2, 11-1 in the ECAC and heads to the Capitol District for a huge weekend against Union and RPI.
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