Coming off of a 4-1 win over Princeton Saturday night, Quinnipiac faced the Tigers once more  at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink to round out the two-game weekend series.

After another 60 minutes of action, the Bobcats closed out their 14th straight win against Princeton, 4-1, handing the Tigers their second loss on home ice this season.

Much like its game on Saturday, Princeton remained in lock step with the Bobcats through two periods before faltering in the third.

The Tigers made junior goaltender Dylan Silverstein work early, with sophomore forward Julian Facchinelli driving to the net, but being tripped up before he could get a good look. Quinnipiac was not able to generate much of a response before Princeton challenged again. A rebound off a shot from senior forward David Jacobs resulted in a backhanded attempt for senior defenseman David Ma, but Silverstein kept it out.

The Bobcats continued to play on the back foot early until a big hit by freshman defenseman Brady Schultz on senior forward Kevin Anderson. Princeton coach Ben Syer challenged the play for a major penalty, but did not secure the call. Soon after, Facchinelli was called for holding, giving Quinnipiac its first power play of the game.

While the Bobcats failed to convert, freshman forward Ethan Wyttenbach and junior forward Andon Cerbone generated a few opportunities. Quinnipiac had the game’s next big chance, as a pass from sophomore defenseman Elliott Groenewold found freshman forward Ben Riche, who was robbed of his potential first collegiate goal by junior netminder Arthur Smith.

As the first period wound down, the Tigers again pressed the attack. Sophomore forward Jake Manfre rifled a sharp-angle shot that Silverstein handled, and the rebound attempt by the dangerous junior forward Kai Daniells was also stopped. With just seven seconds to go, Jacobs and senior forward Brendan Gorman sprung a two-on-one chance, resulting in Gorman hitting the post and ending the first scoreless.

Just like the first, it was Princeton that got the first good look of the second period. Ma took a shot right off a face-off that missed Silverstein, and the Quinnipiac netminder came up with another save on senior defenseman Nick Marciano.

A little over three minutes into the second, the ice was finally broken, and just like the night before, it was the Bobcats finding the back of the net. Freshman defenseman Brady Schultz found Riche and junior forward Matthew McGroarty on a rush, McGroarty sniping it past Smith’s shoulder for his second goal of the season. For Schultz, a well-earned first point in collegiate competition.

Just a minute later, the Bobcats had another chance with multiple players in front of Smith, but the Princeton netminder stayed strong, and was rewarded by Quinnipiac senior forward Victor Czerneckianair being called for hooking.

Silverstein continued to prove the best penalty killer is the goaltender, as he denied a Ma shot into a Manfre tip, along with a backhanded try by sophomore forward Luc Pelletier.

However, off the following face-off, Pelletier was knocked to the ice and swept his stick at the puck, managing a perfect feed to Ma in the high slot. The defenseman ripped a shot past Silverstein to tie the game and record his third goal of the season; the Tigers were once again able to convert on the power play.

Despite the goal tying the game, Quinnipiac retained momentum and jumped Princeton as soon as the game got back underway. 40 seconds after the goal, freshman forward Matthew Lansing got a good-looking wrap-around attempt on Smith, but he was ready and kept the puck out.

Around 37 seconds later, a shot by freshman defenseman Nate Tivey after a pass from McGroaty was tipped home by senior forward Alex Power for his first goal of the season, Quinnipiac’s fourth line factoring on both goals and giving the Bobcats the lead again.

About a minute later, a hard hit on Czerneckianair was challenged by Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold, which resulted in a five minute major penalty and game misconduct to junior defenseman Ian Devlin.

Despite being five-on-four for five minutes, the Bobcats were unable to convert, the best chance being a shot from Wyttenbach through traffic, but not enough to fool Smith.

At 15:54 in the period, Princeton finally had a chance to recapture the momentum and prevent the game from getting away from them. Freshman forward Markus Vidicek was called for holding, and the Tigers got their second shot at the power play.

However, much like the game on Saturday, Princeton was unable to convert, with no sustained pressure and only a handful of shots that went wide of Silverstein.

Quinnipiac nearly capitalized on Princeton’s missed chance, as after the penalty, a bad turnover by Daniells ended up on the stick of freshman forward Antonin Verreault, who fed a near picture-perfect pass to Vidicek. Smith was critically able to get a piece of Verreault’s pass, and Vidicek was unable to settle the rolling puck.

Into the third period, the game’s pace ground to a halt as several icing calls and battles along the boards stifled both offenses. The period finally opened up as sophomore forward Aaron Schwartz fired a shot and found his rebound, yet neither could get past Smith. Post-whistle contact drew penalties on both sides, with Lansing and Manfre sent to the box for roughing.

Quinnipiac retained the momentum with the extra ice and forced the Tigers onto their heels, culminating with a hooking call on senior defenseman Tyler Rubin.

On the resulting power play, Wyttenbach pulled a fancy move, but a last-second Princeton stick denied a shot. He then found Vidicek, who could not get a shot off. Yet, third time was the charm for Wyttenbach, as he connected with senior defenseman Will Gilson, who sent it to Verreault and sniped it past Smith off the far post.

For Verreault, it was his 13th goal and Wyttenbach his 30th assist, marking his 12th straight game with a point.

Princeton continued to not back down, as Daniells nearly pickpocketed Groenewold before forcing sophomore defenseman Braden Blace to take a holding call to prevent a scoring chance. Yet again, though, the Princeton power play struggled to find traction and failed to record a shot on net.

After another lengthy board battle, Manfre was called for interference, giving the Bobcats a late power play. Despite another in-tight chance by Lansing and a drive by freshman defenseman Graham Sward nearly finding Cerbone on a tip, Smith kept the game at 3-1.

As time wore down, Syer pulled Smith, hoping the Tigers could find traction with the extra attacker. Instead, Quinnipiac immediately made Princeton pay as Wyttenbach found the puck and netted his 21st goal of the season from just inside his own blue line. With another two-point night, Wyttenbach pulled to three points from the D1 program record for points by a freshman skater with four games remaining.

A weird sequence of events followed as Wyttenbach was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Schwartz was sent to the box to serve a bench minor, meaning Princeton had a five-on-three opportunity with just under four minutes left in the game.

For one final time, the Princeton power play struggled, with the only serious chance being a partial fan by Jacobs off a rebound that Silverstein smothered. Quinnipiac killed the penalty, ran out the clock, and the Bobcats claimed their 14th straight win against Princeton.

The matchup brought Quinnipiac’s win streak to four games and put the Bobcats comfortably in first place in the conference. The win highly increases their chances of a first-round bye for the upcoming ECAC tournament.

The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team will look to continue its strong form as they will return home to the M&T Bank Arena in Hamden on Friday, Feb. 20, against the No. 13 Cornell Big Red at 7 p.m.