Since a six-goal St. Dominic Academy win on Nov. 26, neither the Saints nor the Greely Rangers had tasted defeat.
Thursday’s rematch lived up to the heavyweight expectations, and after hard fought periods, the Saints remained unbeaten with a 3-2 victory at the Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Two first-period goals helped the Saints to their 17th win of the season. At the 3:21 mark, sophomore Avery Lutrzykowski opened the scoring, beating goalie Nica Todd with a nifty move on a pass from Kristina Cornelio and Izzy Frenette.
Three-and-a-half minutes later, following a Greely penalty for too many skaters on the ice, Lutryzkowski intercepted a a pass on her own blue line and carried it deep into Rangers territory. With a one defender to beat, she dumped her pass off to Cornelio and she squeezed the puck past Todd for the second goal of the game.
St. Dom’s continued pressuring Greely throughout the opening period, firing 17 shots on net to just three from the visitors.
“The first time we played them it was a different game. Tonight, there were a lot more shots,” St. Dom’s coach Paul Gosselin said.
Greely came out in the second period with a lot more urgency, going for the loose pucks it didn’t go for in the first and putting more shots on net.
With 6:33 remaining in the middle frame, junior forward Courtney Sullivan found the back of the net after getting the rebound from an Ellie Schad shot cutting the Saints’ lead to 2-1.
The Saints got the goal back by scoring their second power play goal of the night with a wrist shot from Emma Theriault that found it’s way past Todd.
Cornelio and Lutrzykowski assisted on the goal. Payton Winslow stopped 12 shots of her 21 saves in the second period to preserve the lead.
“Payton did well tonight,” Gosselin said. “She’s not used to getting a lot of shots most of the time, but she answered the call well.”
Trailing 3-1 entering the third period, the Rangers pushed one past Winslow less than two minutes in. Bridget Roberts found Emilee McGillicuddy to cut the lead to 3-2.
“Getting those two goals gave them a lift,” Gosselin said. “After those two goals, the wind was kind of taken out of the sail a little bit.
“I didn’t find it that much different than the first time we played them, some goals go in, and some didn’t. Tonight could have been another six-goal game if it wasn’t for Todd,” he added.
Todd made 25 saves, holding a Saints team that is averaging eight goals a game to just three.
With just over three minutes remaining, St. Dom’s was called for a penalty, setting up the advantage for Greely. The St. Dom’s defense answered, behind Theriault, Frenette, and Katya Fons, by allowing only one shot attempt to kill the penalty with just over a minute remaining.
Greely pulled their goalie with :49 remaining but could not muster another shot as time expired.
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