The Quinnipiac men’s hockey team kicked off Veteran’s Day weekend with a nail-biting 4-3 victory over the Brown Bears on Friday. The Bobcats are quickly making a name for themselves in the comeback department as they secured their third come-from-behind victory of the season. 

Although winter is near, the Bears weren’t asleep, seemingly the only team awake on the ice in the first period. Quinnipiac looked lifeless early on and forced its passes, leading to costly turnovers. Brown pounced on these opportunities, such as when junior forward Matt Sutton had a breakaway after blazing through the neutral zone. 

Quinnipiac sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets laid out and made a left pad save, but couldn’t stop the advancing rebound. Freshman defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault came to his goaltender’s rescue, kicking it away from the goal line and into the Bobcats’ possession. 

Despite Legault’s heroic efforts previously in the period, he surrendered the first penalty of the game for hooking. Brown went around the horn in the offensive zone and senior defenseman James Crossman ripped a one-timer over Perets’ blocker to take a 1-0 lead. 

 Looking to respond, freshman forward Sam Lipkin sent a saucer pass over to graduate student defenseman Zach Metsa, who was all alone in the slot. The Bobcats’ captain fired a wrister that rang off the iron. 

As the second period started, Metsa attempted to ignite a fire in the Quinnipiac bench by leveling Brown senior forward Bradley Cocca.

Lipkin peppered sophomore goaltender Mathieu Caron, highlighted with a rocket to the mask. The rebound found its way onto the stick of graduate student forward Ethan de Jong, who sniped one top-shelf to even the game at one. 

The tie wouldn’t last long, as three minutes later, the Bears broke the Bobcats’ defense. Freshman forward Ryan Bottrill entered the offensive zone and two defenders engaged him, leaving Brown sophomore defenseman Tony Andreozzi alone on a breakaway. Andreozzi fired it over Perets’ glove for his first collegiate goal, extinguishing all of Quinnipiac’s momentum.. 

With under five minutes left in the second period, Quinnipiac went back on the power play. Graduate student forward Desi Burgart shot it from inside the right circle, leading sophomore forward Jacob Quillian to pounce on the rebound, who slid it past Caron. 

The first eight minutes of the third period were a snoozefest. However, it was a huge turnaround from the first two periods because it looked like the Bobcats were on the same page. Quinnipiac began passing with a purpose and its shot selection showed better judgment. 

With a little over 11 minutes left in regulation, Brown sophomore defenseman Brett Bliss took a penalty for slashing Quinnipiac sophomore forward Collin Graf while on a breakaway. This led to a penalty shot, the first one against the Bears in 12 years. 

Graf started to his right, picking up speed, then swooped to his left onto his backhand, but couldn’t tuck it home. Caron made a huge stop outstretching his right pad, keeping the score at two apiece. 

Quinnipiac continued the offensive pressure, going right back on the attack. Graf passed it to Legault as he was entering the offensive zone and then cut across the high slot. He found graduate student forward Michael Lombardi with a filthy saucer pass for the cross-crease tally. 

Lombardi wasn’t finished. Less than two minutes later, the Rhode Island native received a pass in the slot from senior forward Skyler Brind’Amour and sniped one past Caron for the ultimate game-winner in his home state.  

Both sides had a shaky defense all game. Late in the third period, Brown senior forward Cole Quisenberry redirected a shot from senior defenseman Luke Krys, pulling the Bears to within one. Perets stood tall in the remaining minutes and Quinnipiac registered the 4-3 victory, its sixth of the year. 

After extending their win streak to four games, the Bobcats will quickly prepare to stalk their next prey as they head to New Haven for the first installment of the highly-anticipated Battle of Whitney Ave. on Saturday. The puck drop will be at 7 p.m. as Quinnipiac looks to climb higher in the national rankings.