BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Two nights after one of its more satisfying wins in recent years, Robert Morris University men's hockey ran into a much stiffer Bowling Green team Sunday, falling 6-0 to the nation's 20th-ranked team at Slater Family Ice Arena. The non-conference foes split the home-and-home weekend series one game apiece.

The Falcons soared from the start, scoring two goals in each period while handing RMU (1-1-0) its first loss of 2018-19 in its first road game of the new season. The six-goal margin of defeat was the largest for Robert Morris in 210 games, since Mercyhurst beat the Colonials 8-1 on Feb. 5, 2013. 

Sunday actually started promisingly for the Colonials, who drew a pair of Bowling Green penalties in the opening 2:09. However, they managed just one shot on goal in those two early advantages, giving the Falcons an opportunity to find their footing and setting the stage for a rare empty night for the RMU attack. The Colonials had been shut out just four times over the past four seasons.

As head coach Derek Schooley reminded, the special-teams advantage that went the Colonials' way in Friday's 3-2 win on the Island turned the opposite direction in the rematch. RMU went 0 for 5 on the advantage Sunday while allowing three power-play goals on seven opportunities against.

"It was a special teams game then, and it was a special teams game tonight," Schooley said.
 
Bowling Green's first power-play strike was included a two-goal burst not long after the Falcons (3-1-0) squelched those early RMU opportunities. Lukas Craggs finished a rebound of Carson Musser's drive to the net at 6:50 of the first, followed by Pittsburgh native Connor Ford's man-advantage snipe at 7:53.

Schooley said his team was largely too permissive in allowing the fast-paced Falcons to cruise up ice with the puck, pointing to the large gaps between Bowling Green's puck-carriers and the Colonials' defense corps. As a result, the Falcons were able to gain the zone more easily than they did Friday, and they spent more time in the offensive zone as a result. The Colonials were outshot 33-15 and out-attempted 54-29, indicating where most of the game was played: Near the RMU net.

In the lone similarity to Friday night, Colonials junior goalie Francis Marotte made a handful of strong saves in the first, but the Bowling Green attack proved too much to withstand. Brandon Kruse stepped off the wall to gun a shot over Marotte's blocker at 9:47 of the second, followed by John Schilling's backdoor tap-in with 3:25 to go before intermission.

RMU team captain Brandon Watt said the team will have to learn its lesson about finishing the job against a motivated team.

"We have to know that they're going to come out hard because they don't want to get swept," said the senior Watt, who misfired on a partial breakaway just before Schilling cashed in from close range.

Just like in the first period, Bowling Green added two more in quick succession past the midpoint of the third. Kruse nailed his second power-play goal off a wild end-board carom, then Casey Linkenheld redirected Jacob Dalton's point shot past Marotte just 35 seconds later. At that point, sophomore goalie Dyllan Lubbesmeyer took over for Marotte, who made 23 saves.

Atlantic Hockey Association play begins next weekend at the RMU Island Sports Center, when the Colonials will host Army West Point on Friday and Saturday. That'll start a six-game homestand for RMU, all against AHA competition.

The stakes of league play figure to heighten focus, but so should the turn of events on this up-then-down opening weekend. Although the Colonials scored a significant victory to start, the memory of Sunday's loss will likely stand out just as much for a team that dressed seven freshmen in both games against the feisty Falcons.

"We were happy with ourselves (after Friday's win) and that's a lesson a young team will learn," Schooley said. "But we're not going to use that as an excuse. We didn't Friday."

Both faceoffs against Army next weekend are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.