Men's Hockey: No. 3 Bulldogs surmount 3-0 deficit for comeback victory

“You make your own breaks,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said after the loss. “They were aggressive. They did a great job and we didn’t react well to it.”

Princeton (15-10-2, 10-8-2) came roaring out of the gate against the Bulldogs, peppering the Yale defense and goaltender Ryan Rondeau with shots and almost converting as junior forward Brodie Zuk’s attempt ricocheted off the post and wide. The Tigers had the majority of their chances early on, and they were rewarded with three goals in less than 14 minutes.

Princeton’s prospects improved even more when Yale center Brendan Mason was called for slashing six seconds after the third score. It was the Tigers’ second power play of the game after senior forward Mike Kramer converted the first. But in a remarkable sequence, the Bulldogs stole a shorthanded goal and added another after forward Brian O’Neill was called for boarding.

“Those are obviously two huge goals in a 5-4 win,” Gadowsky said.

Yale capped off the first period action by leveling the contest at three goals apiece on a power play. Princeton pulled ahead again in the second period on sophomore forward Rob Kleebaum’s goal — his third of the game and fourth of the weekend — but the Bulldogs fired back to knot the score at 4, again on a power play.

The third period remained tight, with Princeton squandering several opportunities and Yale’s apparent go-ahead goal disallowed. But it was only a matter of time for the visitors, and with one minute, 53 seconds to go in the final period, Chris Cahill gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. The goal held up, dropping the Tigers to a weekend split.

Asked if he thought his team played well enough to win the game, Gadowsky said, “I don’t. When you give up four specialty team goals, it will be very difficult to win.”

Friday night proved more successful for Princeton. The Tigers got off to an even quicker start against Brown, with senior forward Kevin Lohry scoring in the first 45 seconds. The Bears pulled one back, but senior defenseman and co-captain Taylor Fedun retook the lead with a power play goal midway through the first. The Tigers never looked back, cruising to a 7-3 victory.

The win was a welcome turnaround for a team that had posted a disappointing 0-3-1 record in its last four contests. The skid included a 4-4 tie against unranked Harvard during which the Tigers relinquished the lead in the last six minutes.

“I thought we played well [against Brown],” Gadowsky said. “We got the two points, and that’s a bonus, but we really wanted to play well. I thought we did ... It gives us confidence that we were back to the style of hockey that we need to play to be successful.”

The loss to Yale marks the last home game of the regular season for the Tigers. The team will hit the road on Friday for a weekend trip to No. 14 Rensselaer and No. 7 Union, teams that accounted for two of Princeton’s three losses in its recent slide.

“I feel that we’re on our way to [turning it around], at least Friday night,” Gadowsky said. “We needed to stay out of the box, and the penalties we did take, we had to kill them.”

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“Our five-on-five play is fine right now, but we’re struggling a little bit with specialty teams right now ... We hit a bit of a bad stretch and we have to figure it out,” he added.