Metsa Scores Pair, Bongiovanni Nets Late Winner Over Princeton

Sunday, December 29

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

9-7-1, 4-3-1ECAC

Princeton

2-10-3,0-6-2ECAC

Princeton

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

Metsa Scores Pair, Bongiovanni Nets Late Winner Over Princeton

12/29/2019 10:49:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Bongiovanni Nets Game-Winner with 1:26 Remaining to Complete Weekend Sweep

By: QU Athletic Communications

HAMDEN, Conn. – Wyatt Bongiovanni (Birmingham, Michigan) scored his second-straight late third period goal Sunday night to cap off the Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team's come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Princeton Tigers at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena.

Trailing 3-2 near the midway point of the third period, Peter DiLiberatore (Bedford, Nova Scotia) tied the game for the Bobcats with a rocket goal, the second time the Bobcats had tied the game after trailing.

Following in DiLiberatore's footsteps, Bongiovanni rifled home his eighth tally of the season with just 1:26 remaining in regulation as he beat Princeton netminder Ryan Ferland top shelf off a feed from Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) to earn the victory.

Tufto's assist was his second of the night as he became the 41^st player in program history to record 100 career points, and the first junior since Sam Anas did so in 2015-16.

Zach Metsa (Delafield, Wisconsin) scored two second period goals for the Bobcats within four minutes of one another in the later stages of the period to tie the game and spark some life in the Bobcats. He later added an assist to add to his first career two-goal, three-point game.

Once again, Keith Petruzzelli was spectacular between the pipes as he made 23 saves and recorded a pair of highlight reel stops to keep the Bobcats within reach of the Tigers. Perhaps his biggest save of the night, Petruzzelli made a windmill glove save on a Derek Topatigh breakaway with just 30 seconds left in the second period after Topatigh exited the penalty box to keep the game tied, 2-2.

Quinnipiac's win was its third straight dating back to November 30, and the Bobcats moved into a tie for fifth in the ECAC Hockey standings after this weekend's sweep of the Tigers.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 4, Princeton 3

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (9-7-1, 4-3-1 ECAC Hockey) | Princeton (2-10-3, 0-6-2 ECAC Hockey)

LOCATION
Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena at the People's United Center | Hamden, Conn.

SCORING SUMMARY

(19:19.8, 1^st period) – Quinnipiac 0, Princeton 1: Sami Pharaon gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with just 40.2 seconds remaining the first period as he fired a puck on net that deflected off a Bobcat and just past Petruzzelli.
(2:34, 2^nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 0, Princeton 2: The Tigers doubled their lead early in the second period as Liam Grande redirected a shot from Jackson Cressey to take a 2-0 lead.
(12:58, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 1, Princeton 2: Metsa got the Bobcats on the board with his first of the period after a faceoff win from Tufto back to Bongiovanni who fed Metsa the puck along the left boards. Metsa flung the puck on net past a perfect screen from Ethan de Jong (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and past Ferland to pull the Bobcats within a goal.
(16:47, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 2, Princeton 2: Metsa scored his second nearly four minutes later with the Bobcats rushing up the ice as Alex Whelan (Ramsey, New Jersey) dropped a pass for William Fällström (Stockholm, Sweden) who shot the puck on net from the right circle. The rebound came out to Metsa crashing and he beat Ferland for the goal.
(3:26, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 2, Princeton 3: Princeton reclaimed the lead early in the third period on a two-on-one breakaway as Luke Keenan just managed to beat a sprawling Petruzzelli on the backdoor.
(7:48, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 3, Princeton 3: Nick Jermain (Norwalk, Connecticut) fed the puck into DiLiberatore who skated into the offensive zone. The puck was briefly knocked away from DiLiberatore before a Princeton defender slid it with his arm right to DiLiberatore waiting in the slot where he rocketed the puck past Ferland's blocker.
(18:34, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 4, Princeton 3: Bongiovanni scored a laser of his own to win it for the Bobcats with just 1:26 to go in the third period as Metsa fed the puck from the defensive zone up to Tufto in the neutral zone. Tufto controlled the puck into the offensive zone where he slid it to Bongiovanni on top of the left faceoff circle for the winner.

NOTES

Metsa recorded his first career multi-goal and three-point game after scoring two goals and adding an assist.
Metsa had two career goals coming into tonight's game and had never recorded a multi-point game in his career.
His two-goal effort was also the first multi-goal performance by a Bobcat this season
Tufto became the 41^st player in program history to record 100 points after recording a pair of assists for his second straight two-point night.
Tufto is the first junior in NCAA Hockey this season to record 100 career points
He reached the 100-point mark in just 93 career games and is the first Bobcat junior to reach 100 points since Sam Anas did so in his 92^nd game in 2015-16.
Bongiovanni recorded the game-winning goal Sunday night to give him goals in back-to-back games this weekend.
He also added an assist for his third two-point game this season and now leads the team with eight goals.
DiLiberatore rifled home his third goal of the season and recorded a point for a second straight night with his game-tying goal against the Tigers.
With three goals, DiLiberatore has tied his freshman year total with three goals.
Whelan picked up an assist for a second straight night and extended his point streak to three games with his helper on Metsa's second goal.
Fällström recorded his fifth assist of the season with the primary helper on Metsa's second goal
Petruzzelli continued his impressive performance with 23 saves to earn his ninth win of the season for the Bobcats
He has a 1.64 GAA and .937 save percentage over the last eight games for the Bobcats and has led the team to five wins in that span.
The Bobcats dominated the Tigers in shots on goal at 48-26, including an impressive 17-3 edge in the third period to complete the comeback victory.
Quinnipiac was just as impressive in faceoff wins, owning a 42-20 edge over Princeton led by Tufto's 15 wins.

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats continue their three-game homestand next weekend as they welcome the Harvard Crimson and Dartmouth Big Green to Hamden. Quinnipiac hosts Harvard Friday night at 7 p.m. before taking on Dartmouth Saturday night at 7 p.m.