TEMPE, Ariz. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team lost 3-2 Friday evening against No. 12 Arizona State at Oceanside Ice Arena, bringing its overall record to 9-13-3 on the season.

Nick Lalonde scored his first goal of the year and added an assist on the evening. Luke Lynch also posted a goal and assist, while goaltender Justin Kapelmaster stopped 28 of 31 shots for RMU between the pipes.

"I thought it was a tale of two hockey teams tonight," head coach Derek Schooley said.  "I thought the first 30 minutes was one-sided and completley dominated, and then I thought for the last 30 minutes we were outstanding. It might have been our best stretch of the year, but once again we lost the special teams battle.  Our start could have been better, but if we can kill a couple of penalties and not allow them two power-play goals, it's a different hockey game."  

A choppy start to the game led to Kapelmaster being tested early on a number of scoring chances.

A series of offensive-zone faceoffs for the Sun Devils led to a pair of shots in quick succession from Joshua Maniscalco and PJ Marrocco, testing the senior net minder in the games opening minutes. Kapelmaster was sharp, however, turning aside both chances before stopping a turning shot from Tyler Busch near the right hash to prevent another early deficit for RMU just minutes later.

Despite the early stops, ASU managed to open up the scoring midway through the opening frame as the Colonials recent penalty kill woes continued.  A tripping call on Nolan Schaeffer led to an early man advantage for ASU, who converted courtesy of a bomb of a point shot from Brinson Pasichnuk at 10:15.

Arizona State continued to enjoy an advantage in puck possession, making life tough on Kapelmaster. A huge stop on Johnny Walker on the doorstep kept the deficit at one as RMU searched for a push back.

"We didn't have the start we wanted, and Justin was our best player through 30," Schooley said.  "He made a lot of good saves. That's what good goalies do, they keep you in it until you can get your game." 

A tripping call on Pasichnuk put RMU on a late power play of their own, however the Colonials failed to muster a shot on the advantage.

ASU doubled its lead just minutes into the second after Willie Knierim managed to tip a centering pass through the wickets of Kapelmaster, their 14th shot of the game.

Alex Robert nearly cut the lead in half with a one-timer from the left circle, but an outstretched Debrouwer managed to get over and snag the shot with his glove.

Matching unsportsmanlike conduct minors on Brett Gruber and Brendon Michaelian brought some four-on-four action to the ice, however it was ASU who would once again take advantage of the extra space as Knierim scored his second of the game to make it 3-0.

Slowly but surely RMU searched for a response, building momentum off of a series of scoring chances and more than quadrupling their first period total of three shots on goal.

Though another power play opportunity did not produce a breakthrough, a few near-misses from Jake Coleman on the man advantage helped to jumpstart the Colonials and give them some life late in the period.

They would finally capitalize off that momentum with just under six minutes remaining in the second frame after Nick Lalonde cleaned up a loose puck in front of the net and swiped it through a sprawled out Debrouwer to cut the lead to 3-1.

RMU continued to rely on the power play to generate its best chances.  A boarding call on the Sun Devils at 4:29 of the third led to some great puck possession and zone time for RMU on the PP, however the ASU PK unit did a good job of keeping the puck largely to the perimeter and out of the high-danger areas for Robert Morris.

The Colonials comeback push continued, as RMU erased a 13-3 first period shot deficit to lead 32-31 midway through the third thanks in large part to the efforts of the newly formed fourth line of Lalonde, Daniel Mantenuto, and Lynch.

Lynch cut the lead to 3-2 with just over ten minutes left to play after losing his man in coverage coming through the neutral zone, collecting a beautiful feed from Lalonde in stride before walking in and firing a quick wrister high-glove on Debrouwer for career point No. 99. 

"They earned every bit of ice time they got tonight. I thought they were outstanding," Schooley said of the line.  "I thought it was their best game of the year, each one of them individually and collectively as well.  They've not had seasons up to their expectations up to this point but tonight was an outstanding effort."

Grant Hebert had what looked like the game-tying goal on his stick minutes later, finding himself all alone with the puck in front of Debrouwer's crease, however the sophomore could not corral the puck for a decent shot.

Despite a dominant 14-3 advantage in shots on goal in the third, RMU could not come up with a late equalizer and ASU held on for the 3-2 win.

The Colonials will finish out the road trip tomorrow night when they square off against ASU one final time starting at 9 p.m. EST from Oceanside Arena.

"We didn't have a push back early on, but then we started believing we could play in this game. And then when we did, we kind of took the game over through our work ethic. We didn't stop," Schooley said.