HENRIETTA, N.Y. -- Third-period goals from Justin Addamo and Alex Tonge yanked the Robert Morris University men's hockey team even with host R.I.T. on Friday night, but the Tigers converted on a late power play en route to a 5-3 win at the Gene Polisseni Center.

Much like last Friday at Holy Cross, the Colonials (10-20-1, 9-15-1 Atlantic Hockey) surged from behind with a multi-goal rally. Addamo's fifth goal of his freshman season chopped R.I.T.'s lead to 3-2 four minutes into the third, snapping a 17-game goal drought.

Then, just past the midway point of the final frame, the senior Tonge dragged the puck to the middle and buried his team-high 14th goal of the season, a power-play strike that made it a new game.

However, R.I.T. (15-13-3, 13-9-3 AHA) used its power play to sprint back ahead, as Erik Brown had Abbott Girduckis' redirect bounce off him and behind RMU goalie Francis Marotte. The friendly carom gave Brown his second man-up goal of the night, enough to lift the Tigers to a series-opening win. Girduckis hit the empty net from the neutral zone moments later to give third-place R.I.T. a 2-1 lead in the season series.

"Our effort was good enough," RMU head coach Derek Schooley said. "Our penalty kill wasn't good enough. Coaches and players made some mistakes and we'll have to correct those and be better tomorrow."

In the middle installment of a five-game road stretch for the Colonials, they were essentially even in shot attempts (51-50, RMU) and shots on goal (29-28, R.I.T.). They were dead even in power-play conversions -- two apiece -- giving the visitors 10 PPGs over their past nine games. That 10-for-37 stretch on the advantage has been a definite bright spot lately, although that wasn't much consolation to RMU on this night.

"Good puck movement, good puck retrievals, found the back of the net," Schooley said. "But it's a full special-teams encounter."



Tonge and linemate Michael Louria accounted for the Colonials' power-play tallies, as both senior wingers kept up their recent surges. Tonge, the reigning AHA Player of the Week, has 10 points (5g, 5a) in his past nine games, while Louria has 12 points (4g, 8a) in his past 15 games after getting six in his first 16.

On the other side of the coin, freshmen Addamo and Nick Lalonde (assist) each ended different kinds of scoring droughts. Addamo hadn't put a puck in since his two-goal game Nov. 24 at Mercyhurst; Lalonde, who made a nifty behind-the-back pass to send Addamo away for his goal, hadn't earned a point in seven contests prior to Friday.

Plus, their usual centerman Luke Lynch picked up a pair of secondary assists to lift his season total to 17, three shy of his career NCAA high set last season.

"I think we managed the puck well in the neutral zone (in the third)," Addamo said, "and we were efficient on the forecheck, which pushed them to make turnovers."

Robert Morris was on even terms with the Tigers early, but the home team struck first thanks to a fortunate bounce. Defenseman Brody Valette launched a routine shot from above the right circle that deflected off a Colonial and over Marotte's glove at 9:52.

But RMU caught a break soon thereafter, when R.I.T.'s Will Calverley was issued a five-minute interference major for blindsiding Daniel Mantenuto at center ice. Louria made that indiscretion sting by backhanding his sixth goal of the season with 6:14 left in the first, converting Nick Prkusic's net-front pass with a slick deke in front of goalie Logan Drackett.

The second period was a little more settled than the first, but that benefited the home team to the tune of a pair of tallies. Brown connected for the first of those near the game's midway point, deflecting Jake Hamacher's firm pass during the Tigers' third power play. 

Mantenuto nearly countered Brown's team-best 14th goal, but RMU's junior center rang the left post after accepting Prkusic's drop dish and cruising between the circles.

That near miss stood out even more when RIT's Kobe Walker collected Nick Bruce's wild wraparound and stashed it inside the right post before Marotte and Eric Israel could recover from the play's change of direction. With 2:05 remaining in the second, the Tigers had their largest lead of the night.

"We had a lot of energy and a lot of life (in the third period)," Schooley said. "We had about an eight-minute lull in the second period. We all agreed we needed to be better."

RMU's rebound in the third period was significant, starting in earnest when Lalonde slipped the puck up the left boards to Addamo, who looked off Lynch before ripping a shot glove side on Drackett.

"It was nice to get the monkey off my back," Addamo said. "I feel like I've been getting chances, so it's nice to see one go in. The D-man was taking away the pass pretty well so I shot it."

The Colonials will need more of that third-period spirit Saturday night when the weekend set wraps up at 7:05 p.m.