PITTSBURGH, Pa - The Robert Morris men's hockey team scored four straight unanswered goals to erase a 3-1 deficit in the third period and skate away with a 5-3 victory over Mercyhurst.
Dyllan Lubbesmsyer earned his second win of the season in goal in relief of Noah West.
The Colonials' third straight game against the Lakers continued on trends established in their first two meetings.
Two squads that like to push the pace and get up and down the ice quickly went end to end to start things off Saturday despite a limited number of quality scoring chances thanks to the tenacious shot-blocking of the Lakers.
With the physicality already high from the opening puck drop, Mercyhurst did a good job of clearing the slot of loose pucks and preventing second-chance opportunities.
RMU found itself down 1-0 after a Jonathan Bendorf chip-shot handcuffed Noah West and snuck in near post.
They added a short-handed goal with 90 seconds left in the first frame to put RMU in a 2-0 hole.
With the chippiness ramping up even more to start the second, the Colonials got a golden opportunity when an extra Mercyhurst minor on a pair of offsetting penalties gave RMU an extended 4-on-3 power play.
Nick Jenny made the most of it for RMU, activating deep in the zone before re-directing Santeri Hartikainen's shot through the legs of Hank Johnson.
Dyllan Lubbesmeyer did well to hold the first at the other end in relief of West, stopping a number of quality chances on a Laker power-play including a stuff attempt from Carson Briere on the left post to keep it a one-goal deficit heading into the final frame.
The Lakers restored their two goal lead on a breakaway minutes into the third. While Lubbesmeyer was able to stop the initial attempt from Dante Sherrif with a kick save, a trailing Jonathan Bendorf was there to clean up the rebound.
With their backs to the wall, the RMU offense erupted for three goals in the span of 4:57, flipping the script on Mercyhurst and grabbing a 4-3 lead.
Nolan Schaeffer let one fly from the point that beat Johnson along the ice to cut it back to a one-goal game before Randy Hernandez tied it up with a spinning shot from near the blue line.
Roman Kraemer gave RMU its first lead of the game 7:20 into the third, taking a cross-ice feed from Brian Kramer with a high wrister and beating Johnson high glove.
Lubbesmsyer made a few key saves to close things out and help RMU skate away with the win.
SCORING PLAYS
Bendorf, 13:38, 1st - Unassisted
Kitt, 18:34, 1st (SH) - Assists: Maust, Bevilacqua
Jenny, 1:32, 2nd (PP) - Assists: Hartikainen, Spellacy
Bendorf, 1:29, 3rd - Assists: Sherrif
Schaeffer, 2:23, 3rd - Assists: Stonnell, Lalonde
Hernandez, 3:39, 3rd - Assists: Guerra, Prkusic
Kraemer, 7:20, 3rd - Assists: Kramer, Jenny
Spellacy, 19:10, 3rd - Assists: Jenny, Prkusic
QUICK HITS
Lubbesmsyer earned his second win of the year…RMU snaps two game skid vs. Mercyhurst…second career game-winner from Kraemer...RMU scored three goals in 4:57 and four unanswered…Nick Jenny led RMU with three points
QUOTABLES
"I thought we were pretty good in the first two periods, but they got some bounces and they got away from us on the third goal. We had to stick with it. That was a gutsy comeback, it would have been really easy to hang our heads after they beat us two in a row and go up 3-1, but it was fun. We needed that bad, we couldn't go down three straight to them in less than a week." - Head Coach Derek Schooley
NEXT UP
The Colonials close out non-conference play next week when they host the upstart LIU Sharks for a pair on Thursday and Friday at Clearview Arena.
