Smilanic, Tufto Record Four-Point NIghts to Pace Bobcats in 7-1 Win

Monday, February 22

Hamden, Conn.

6:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

14-5-4

LIU

3-8-0

LIU

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

Smilanic, Tufto Record Four-Point NIghts to Pace Bobcats in 7-1 Win

2/22/2021 9:58:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

#11/12 Men's Ice Hockey Dominates LIU in Non-Conference Showdown Monday

By: QU Athletic Communications

HAMDEN, Conn. – Ty Smilanic (Denver, Colorado) and Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) each recorded four-point games Monday night as the No. 11/12 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team took a big bite out of the LIU Sharks with a 7-1 win at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena.

Smilanic's four-point night was the first of his career as he had a goal and three assists while Tufto had four assists in a game for the third time in his career.

Christophe Fillion (Sherbrooke, Quebec) led all scorers with two goals in his first career two-goal game and was one of five Bobcats to post multi-point efforts in the dominant win over LIU.

The Bobcats and Sharks skated to a 1-1 tie through the first period despite a 20-2 edge in shots on goal. Peter DiLiberatore (Bedford, Nova Scotia) scored a power-play goal for the Bobcats before Jordan Di Cicco tied the game late for the Sharks.

Once the puck dropped for the second period, it was all Bobcats as Quinnipiac scored five times to take a 6-1 lead. Fillion bookended the period with goals while Michael Lombardi (Barrington, Rhode Island), Smilanic and Ethan Leyh (Anmore, British Columbia) also scored for the Bobcats.

Ethan de Jong (North Vancouver, British Columbia) finished off the scoring for the Bobcats with his 11^th of the season.

All three goaltenders who dressed Monday night saw time between the pipes as Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts) made nine saves in his 14^th win while Yaniv Perets (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec) had four saves in the third period and Josh Mayanja (Framingham, Massachusetts) stopped both shots he faced.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 7, LIU 1

RECORDS
#11/12 Quinnipiac (14-5-4, 7-3-4 ECAC Hockey) | LIU (3-8-0)

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

SCORING SUMMARY

(8:34, 1st period - PP) – Quinnipiac 1, LIU 0: Tufto won a faceoff in the left circle to Smilanic on his right who tapped it back to DiLiberatore where he fired a wrister top shelf past LIU goaltender Garrett Metcalf's glove.
(14:23, 1^st period) – Quinnipiac 1, LIU 1: The Sharks tied the game with 5:37 left in the first period as Madoka Suzuki picked off a Quinnipiac pass and fed Jordan Di Cicco for a wrister for the Sharks' first goal of the game.
(1:47, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 2, LIU 1: Fillion scored his first of the game as Chorney started a rush out of the defensive zone to Smilanic on the boards at the red line. He bumped the pass to Brind'Amour racing to the blue line where he backhanded a centering feed through the crease to Fillion waiting to tap home the goal on the back door.
(3:03, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 3, LIU 1: Ethan de Jong (North Vancouver, British Columbia) chased down the puck at the red line in front of the Bobcats' bench and backhanded a quick pass to Tufto who knifed through three defenders with the puck, circled the net and found Lombardi just inside the left circle for a quick snapshot through Metcalf's five-hole.
(9:59, 2^nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 4, LIU 1: Zach Metsa (Delafield, Wisconsin) and Tufto exchanged a few passes at the point before Tufto bumped a pass to Smilanic in the slot for a rocketed one-timer over Metcalf's blocker.
(10:52, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 5, LIU 1: Less than a minute later, Desi Burgart (North Vancouver, British Columbia) won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Leyh who lasered a one-timer home.
(17:13, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 6, LIU 1: Fillion scored his second of the period as Iivari Räsänen ripped a shot that went wide off the end boards and the rebound went right to Fillion on the right post where he gathered the puck and tucked home the goal.
(7:14, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 7, LIU 1: DiLiberatore started the breakout in the defensive zone and hit de Jong with a pass who continued it on to Tufto in the neutral zone. Tufto carried it to the top off the left circle where he dropped a pass off for de Jong, who wristed a shot that squeaked through Metcalf's five-hole.

NOTES

Smilanic (1-3-4) recorded a career-high four points behind a goal and career-high three assists in Monday's win.
He entered the game with four two-point efforts before recording three assists and four points in a game for the first time.
Smilanic took over the national rookie lead with 13 goals and moved into fifth in the nation among first years with 19 points.
Tufto recorded his second four-assist game of the season and third of his career.
He now has 121 career assists, pulling within four of the program record of 125 held by Reid Cashman '07.
Tufto now has 31 assists for a second straight season and is one shy of his career-high 32 assists from his rookie season in 2017-18.
Tufto's multi-point effort was his 11^th of the season and 47^th of his career, and has tallied eight multi-assist games this season and 32 in his career.
Fillion found the back of the net two times for the first time in his career with a pair of second period tallies.
Fillion's two-goal game was the seventh of the season by a Bobcat and fifth different player to do so.
He now has five goals and nine points this season, including four goals in his last four games.
DiLiberatore continues to heat up as he now has points in back-to-back games with a goal and an assist Monday
His goal was his first since Jan. 8 against Clarkson, and moved into a tie for eighth in the nation in points with 16.
de Jong also recorded a goal and an assist to give him points in back-to-back games and six of his last seven.
He crossed the 20-point mark for the second time in his career as he now has a career-high 11 goals and has added 10 assists for 21 points.
de Jong has had 10-plus assists in all three seasons.
He is tied for 14^th in the nation with 11 goals
Lombardi continued his nice little tear for the Bobcats as he scored a goal to give him 10 points in a season for the first time in his career.
He now has points in four of his last five games.
Leyh scored a goal for the second straight game as he reached the 10-point total for the second straight season.
He has points in three of his last four games, and has totaled three goals and 10 points this season.
Metsa chipped in an assist for his 16^th helper of the season, tied for the most among the nation's defensemen.
He also regained the national lead among defensemen with 21 points
Räsänen has recorded points in three straight games after picking up an assist against LIU on Monday.
He now has a goal and four assists this season, with four of those points coming in the last five games.
Burgart also picked up an assist to give him points in four of the last five games
He now has five assists and 14 points this season, with his five assists tying his career-high from 2018-19.
Brind'Amour tallied an assist for the second straight game and third time in the last four.
He now has eight helpers this season, one shy of tying his career-high from last year, and has hit the 10-point mark.
Petruzzelli lowered his GAA to 1.65, good for fourth in the nation, while Perets and Mayanja remain perfect in relief.

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats hit the road for a weekend series at the St. Lawrence Saints in Canton, New York, on Feb. 26 and 27 at Appleton Arena.
Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. each night and both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ in the United States and Internationally on Stretch Internet.
For more information on Quinnipiac men's ice hockey, visit gobobcats.com/mih and follow the Bobcats on Twitter and Instagram, @QU_MIH.