Special teams were the key in Notre Dame’s 6-3 win Saturday night over the Bowling Green hockey team.

The Falcons knew heading into South Bend that in order to win, they were going to have to play extremely well on the power play and penalty kill.

“We can play any team five-on-five and win,” Roger Leonard said before the game. “If we take stupid penalties it’s going to be tough on us.”

The Falcons might not have taken many stupid penalties Saturday night, but they were unable to stop Notre Dame’s offense when short-handed.

The Fighting Irish went 4-for-6 on the power play, while the Falcons finished the game 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

“Special teams were big tonight especially after struggling last weekend in Alaska,” said Irish head coach Dave Poulin. “The power play had been moving the puck real well over the last few games, we just weren’t capitalizing on our chances. I told them before the game to be patient, that the goals will come and that we’ll have a 4-for-6 night. Killing all six of their chances was enormous.”

Poulin was right — the chances did come for the Irish, but the Falcons put up a fight. Had it not been for Notre Dame’s power play goals, the Falcons might have gone home with a victory.

“I thought five-on-five, for most of the evening, we were a pretty good hockey team,” said BG head coach Scott Paluch. “They were much better on the special teams. … Notre Dame did a good job getting it [the puck] down there. Their special teams were the difference in the game.”

Three of Notre Dame’s four power play goals came in the second period and most were when there were a lot of people around the net.

“They did a good job getting guys in front of me,” said BG goaltender Jordan Sigalet. “There was traffic in front and they shot from the point, so I had trouble seeing the puck.”