SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Although it took them the better part of 20 minutes to find their sea legs, the No. 9 Robert Morris women's hockey team showed how eager it was to get to the HarborCenter for next week's College Hockey America (CHA) Tournament.

The Colonials (19-7-4, 13-3-3) pulled away in the second period for a 5-0 flattening of Syracuse (12-19-2, 11-7-1) at Tennity Ice Pavilion Friday night that earned them a first-round bye in Buffalo. RMU is now one point shy of a second straight CHA regular-season crown and will begin its postseason title defense in next Friday's conference semifinal.

Rookie forward Lexi Templeman burst back onto the scoresheet with a pair of goals in the middle frame, her first since Jan. 19, as Robert Morris scored three times in a span of roughly four-and-a-half minutes on reigning CHA Goaltender of the Year Abbey Miller to take command.

"It felt really nice. I kind of got my confidence back, especially heading into the last game of the season tomorrow, and into the championships next weekend," Templeman said. "It's nice to get things going again."

Miller's counterpart, Elijah Milne-Price, withstood a first-period barrage and settled in for a 26-save effort that sufficed for the fifth shutout of her senior season and third in her past five starts. Milne-Price tied the Robert Morris single-season record established by Jessica Dodds in 2013-14 and repeated in '15-'16, one week removed from setting a program record by going 181:09 since Jan. 27 without allowing a goal.

The Orange, needing a win to stay alive for one of those automatic second-round berths, emptied the tank in the opening frame. Sixteen of the game's first 18 shots on goal belonged to the hosts, but fortunately for the visitors, fabled 'Cuse killer Jessica Gazzola fired the only one that counted.

With 10:18 remaining, just after the first Robert Morris power play of the evening had expired, the senior forward and scorer of last year's tournament-clinching goal versus SU forced a turnover and beat Miller from a sharp angle deep in the right circle for her fourth of the season.

Gazzola, whose first two career goals against the Orange were also GW's, now has five points in the 2017-18 season series after contributing two assists to the aforementioned second-period outburst.

"We definitely knew that wasn't our best period," Templeman said. "We kind of regrouped and said, look, we've got to play for a championship here. There's something on the line. I definitely think we had to get re-motivated again, and we did that. We came out way better in the second and third periods."

Amber Rennie, one of a number of Colonials who recently surpassed 100 career games, became the tenth player in RMU history to reach 70 career points when Jaycee Gebhard found her for a one-timer in tight that doubled the lead with 8:29 left in the second.

Two minutes later, Gazzola teed one up for Kirsten Welsh, whose initial shot from the right point was stopped. Templeman, however, pounced on the rebound and put it between Miller's legs for her eighth of the year.

The Colonials are unbeaten in 19 tries this season (15-0-4) when they score first, and, dating back to their last conference title chase, unbeaten in 19 of their last 21 in which Welsh got a point.

It only took Robert Morris another 2:28 to open up a 4-0 lead, thanks to the Staffa, Ontario native and KW Rangers product. She mirrored Gazzola's opener, sneaking in a shot from along the goal line for her fifth power play tally as a rookie, forging a three-way tie for the team lead.

The cream of this year's first-year forward crop, now up to 19 points (9 G, 10 A) entering the last regular-season game of her maiden voyage at Robert Morris, also took sole possession of second in the CHA rookie scoring race.

"It honestly flies by. Thinking back to that first weekend at Mankato, it feels like two weeks ago," Templeman said. "It goes by fast, but I've enjoyed it a lot, and I've enjoyed being with those girls."

The power play wasn't finished, either. Brittany Howard, named a Patty Kazmaier Award top-ten finalist Thursday after accepting her historic Dapper Dan Sportswoman of the Year Award Wednesday, got her campaign off to a rousing start.

Catching Syracuse's penalty killers in a bad change, Howard picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and picked up speed. She cheated to her right and snapped it past backup netminder Edith D'Astous-Morea to put an exclamation point on the victory early in the third period.

It was the 22nd goal of the season and 21st career power play goal for Howard, who, with 44 points in 28 games as a redshirt senior, is well on her way to back-to-back CHA scoring trophies. The assistant captain from St. Thomas, Ontario now has 76 goals and 176 points all-time, both the second-most of all active collegians, including this year's Patty Kaz field.

Special teams continues to play an integral role in the ongoing 7-1-1 tear by Robert Morris through its CHA stretch run. Its power play has converted at a .298 (14-for-47) clip, the third-highest in the nation over that stretch, and the PK, after going 3-for-3 on the night, has a .907 (39-for-43) success rate that is eighth in the NCAA in that same span.

On the whole, the Colonials offense, which tied its single-season record of 108 goals in 2015-16 Friday, has nicked the normally stingy Miller for nine this year.

"It definitely helps. As you could see, once we got the second one, things kind of started rolling," Templeman said. "Knowing we can get four on her, on a goalie of that caliber, is something nice to know going into tomorrow and next weekend."

That pivotal regular-season finale gets underway at Tennity Ice Pavilion Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

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