MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Unfortunately, for the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team, it was more of the same Tuesday.
Middlebury College jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and skated to a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals in non-conference play at Kenyon Arena.
"Once again, we didn't get outplayed," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "But, we didn't play smart.
"I give Middlebury a lot of credit. They must have blocked 20 shots in front of their net. We played hard, but we still have to fine tune our game. And, playing smarter is the bottom line."
The Panthers (10-3-4) took only four shots on goals in the first period — but scored on three of them.
It was Charlie Townsend at 4:29, Trevor Pollock at 13:15 and Ken Suchoski at 17:30.
"It's tough to come back from a 3-0 deficit on the road," Emery said. "We made a Grade A mistake in our own end and it was 1-0 them right away."
Josh Leis took over for starting goaltender Ryan Williams at the start of the second period and his strong play gave the Cardinals (13-4-4) an opportunity to try and come back. Leis stopped all 13 shots he faced in the second.
"Leis played well when he went in, just like Williams did in the Oswego game when he went in," Emery said. "But, there's more pressure on the starting goaltender."
Defenseman Mike Grace, with Plattsburgh State skating on a five-on-three powerplay, made it 3-1 at 16:57 of the second.
Then, with 2:25 gone in the third, Kyle Kudroch scored to bring the Cardinals, who had the momentum, to within one.
The Cardinals, however, turned the puck over deep in their own end two minutes later and Martin Drolet tallied to put the Panthers back up by two.
"We had a turnover in the slot and their best player scored," Emery said.
"Ryan Corry, to his credit, stood up in the lockerroom after the game and took the blame on the play. But, we lost the momentum we had on that goal and lost any chance of a comeback."
Nick Resor then gave Middlebury a 5-2 lead at 11:16 before Ian DeLong's goal, with the Cardinals skating on another five-on-three, closed out the Plattsburgh State scoring with 32 seconds left.
John Yanchek stopped 24 of 27 shots in net for the Panthers, while Williams made one save on four shots and Leis 17 saves on 19 shots in goal for the Cardinals.
Plattsburgh State went two-for-eight on the powerplay and Middlebury, zero-for-two.
"We're in a rut right now," Emery said. "We had a good meeting after the game. We're not going to make any excuses, but this has been a tough month for us.
"Tonight, we didn't show a lot of emotion early on. And, we somehow need to find a way to put the pucks away."
The Cardinals return to State University of New York Athletic Conference play on Saturday when they host Morrisville at 7 p.m. That ends a string of six straight games on the road and will mark the Cardinals' first home game since Jan. 12. It will be North Country Down Syndrome Night.
Middlebury 5, Plattsburgh State 3
Score by periods:
Plattsburgh State 0 1 2 — 3
Middlebury 3 0 2 — 5
First period- 1, Midd, Townsend (Strauss, Svoboda), 4:29. 2, Midd, Pollock (Donahoe, Nerbak), 13:15. 3, Midd, Suchoski (Dubuc, Curran), 17:30. Penalties- Docking, PSU (interference), 4:59. Nerbak, Midd (hooking), 14:00. Dubuc, Midd (charging), 19:03.
Second period- 4, PSU, Grace ppg (Willock, Jobb), 16:57. Penalties- Puglisi, PSU (hooking), 9:48. Steele, Midd (elbowing), 16:06. Suchoski, Midd (boarding), 16:26.
Third period- 5, PSU, Kudroch (Taylor, Docking), 2:25. 6, Midd, Drolet, 4:53. 7, Midd, Resor (Townsend, Suchoski), 11:16. 8, PSU, DeLong ppg (Farrow, Corry), 19:28. Penalties- Donahoe, Midd (hooking), 5:55. Cantwell, Midd (hooking), 8:15. Curran, Midd (contact to the head), 18:22. Steele, Midd (holding), 18:53.
Shots on goal:
Plattsburgh State 7 8 12 — 27
Middlebury 4 13 6 — 23
Goaltenders (shots-saves): Williams (4-1), Leis (19-17), PSU, 23.18. Yanchek, Midd, 27-24.
Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Plattsburgh State, 2-8. Middlebury, 0-2.
Attendance: 1,300.
