It was comeback time in the Slater on Friday night, but not to the benefit of Falcon fans
The Mercyhurst Lakers, down 3-1 at one point in the game, came back from behind to defeat Bowling Green in overtime 4-3.
Brody Waters got BG started fast in the scoring department, finding the back of the net at the 7:52 mark in the first period.
Later on in the period, Jaden Grant added to the scoring onslaught, as just over a minute later at the 6:48 mark, Grant put one in the net to make it 2-0 orange and brown.
The Lakers did respond shortly after, as Mercyhurst’s Steven Agriogianis got a puck from the left side of the net and beat goaltender Christian Stoever to bring the Lakers within one at 2-1.
But late in the first, Ryan O’Hara scored the third goal of the period, which ended up being the last goal of the night for BG, on a power play to make it 3-1 Falcons heading into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Lakers once again got within one, as Connor Pelc scored via a powerplay at the 13:52 mark to make things 3-2 heading into the third.
Midway through the third period, Tommy Banister scored on another Laker powerplay to tie the game at three apiece and send the game into overtime, where Phillip Waugh ended the comeback win with a goal at the 3:56 mark.
With that goal by the blue-liner Waugh, Mercyhurst has now forced overtime in three of their first six games and completed the overtime win in all three of those games.
With Stoever getting the start, this was his first start since the matchup against Augustana on Oct. 14.
Allowing four goals in 23 saves and a .852 save percentage for the game, Stoever had the worst performance of the year by either of the two goalies (Cole Moore), even though he was perfect while defending 11 shorthanded minutes.
“I thought Christian had to make some very difficult saves tonight,” said head coach Ty Eigner postgame. “Tonight we put him in some tough spots.”
Game two between the Falcons and Lakers is once again at 7:07 p.m. on Saturday at Slater Family Ice Arena.
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