Red Raiders overcome slow start for 4-0 win

If Friday’s game was an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” Saturday’s was the rerun.

For the second night in a row, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute dominated play in the first period, but had nothing to show for it as Colgate defeated the Engineers,

4-0, at Houston Field House.

After taking almost the entire first period just to get a shot on goal, Colgate scored first while short-handed at 6:49 of the second period on a two-on-one break finished by defenseman Mark Anderson, his second of the season and the seventh short-handed goal given up by the Engineers this season. RPI gave up another short-handed goal by Ethan Cox in the third period to make it 4-0.

On Friday, RPI outshot Cornell, 30-13, including 14-4 in the first

period, and lost, 2-1.

“You’re talking about five periods — not the third tonight, because Colgate was very good — but we controlled play for most of the whole game,” RPI coach Seth

Appert said. “We had large stretches with better offensive chances and didn’t capitalize, so it has snowballed.”

The Engineers, who have lost seven straight, fell to 3-4-2 in the ECAC Hockey League and 8-12-3 overall.

Colgate improved to 2-4-2 in the ECACHL and 8-9-3 overall.

RPI had a 12-3 edge in shots against Colgate at the first intermission. Remarkably, the Red Raiders didn’t get a shot on goal until 15:57 into the first period, even after having a two-minute power play at 9:01 when Andrei Uryadev was called for slashing.

By then, Rensselaer had 11 shots and no goals.

A giveaway by the Engineers allowed the Red Raiders to get a two-on-one break while Colgate’s Wade Poplawski was off for holding, and Anderson buried it.

“It had a feel that both teams were gripping the sticks tight, and whoever got that first goal was

going to get a little confidence boost and a little extra life,” Appert said. “We had a backside one-timer that was open, and we panicked, threw the puck away, then panicked again and raced to the puck, instead of playing the two-on-one properly. You can’t compound one mistake with another.”

“The shots obviously were a little lopsided in the first, although we thought that the three or four we had were pretty good quality,” Colgate coach Don Vaughn said. “It seemed like we were feeling each other out a little bit. Maybe we were waiting for something to happen, I don’t know.”

One night after Tyler Burton scored three against Union, he was held without a point, but Dustin Gillanders found himself unguarded at the right post to one-time a diagonal pass from Peter Bogdanich past goalie Mathias Lange at 10:19 of the second.

It was Gillanders’ first goal of the season.

“It’s nice to see some other guys step up,” Vaughn said. “We do have other guys who can contribute, and tonight, we did a good job by going hard to the net, which is something that we’ve been preaching to our guys all year.

“Both Anderson’s first goal and Gillanders’ goal were just a result of really attacking the net.”

Mark Dekanich made 28 saves for the Red Raiders.

RPI’s best chance in the first period came on a centering pass from the left circle that somehow scooted under Dekanich and slid toward the right post, but no one was in the area for RPI, and it was cleared.

Colgate 0 2 2 — 4

RPI 0 0 0 — 0

First period–No scoring. Penalties–Uryadov, RPI (slashing), 9:01; Cox, Colgate (tripping), 11:48; Brutlag, RPI (roughing), 18:02; Winchester, Colgate (interference), 20:00.

Second period–1, Colgate, Anderson 2 (Williams), 6:49 (sh). 2, Colgate, Gillanders 1 (Bogdanich), 10:19. Penalties–Foss, RPI (tripping), 3:14; Poplawski, Colgate (holding), 5:52; McIntyre, Colgate (tripping), 7:37; Foss, RPI (tripping), 18:04.

Third period–3, Colgate, Anderson 3 (McIntyre, Day), 7:09. 4, Colgate, Cox 4 (ua), 14:15 (sh). Penalties–Contini, RPI (too many men on the ice), 3:26; Colgate bench (too many men on the ice, served by Carty), 12:36; Klerer, RPI (boarding), 16:00; Anderson, Colgate (hooking), 18:51.

Shots on goal–Colgate 3-9-15–27. RPI 12-7-9–28.

Goalies–Colgate, Dekanich 8-7-3 (28 shots-28 saves). RPI, Lange 4-7-2 (27-23).

Power-play opportunities–Colgate 0 of 6. RPI 0 of 6.

A–3,006. T–2:06.

Referee–Matthew Smith. Assistant referees–Nick Litterio, David Butova.