SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Game-tying goals by forwards
Jarret Granberg and
Kevin Petovello in the second and third periods, respectively, would not stop or discourage the Lake Superior State Lakers Saturday night as they responded with a pair of tallies to take a 4-2 victory from the Alaska Nanooks in front of 2,204 fans at Taffy Abel Ice Arena.
The loss moves the Nanooks (12-13-5, 9-12-5-3) into a three-way tie for sixth place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings with the Lakers (10-12-8, 8-9-7-4) and Northern Michigan with 35 points apiece.
LSSU opened the scoring at 5:12 of the first period when Domenic Monardo beat Alaska's Scott Greenham to make it 1-0.
The Blue and Gold responded 2:58 into the second stanza with a power-play marker from Granberg. Junior defenseman Aaron Gens and senior forward Dustin Sather assisted on the play.
The Lakers regained their lead at 10:23, when Kyle Haines lit the lamp on the power play and snapped the Nanooks string of consecutive penalty killis at 19.
Petovello put the Nanooks back on an even playing field, when he netted the second equalizer of the evening at 1:36 of the final frame. Sophomore winger Andy Taranto assisted on the strike.
With 2:37 left in the third period, coincidental holding penalties to Gens and LSSU's Rick Schofield made all the difference in the game. Playing four-on-four, the Lakers Will Acton beat Greenham for the unassisted game-winning goal at 18:08.
Looking for the ultimate equalizer, Alaska pulled Greenham in favor of a sixth attacker, but Laker defenseman Matt Cowie forced a turnover that led to an empty-net goal by Dillin Stonehouse at 19:24.
Greenham finished the game with 19 saves, while LSSU's Kevin Kapalka had 30 for the evening.
The Nanooks, who are 3-7-2 since the start of the new year, return to Fairbanks to host the Michigan State Spartans and close out their CCHA regular season schedule. The Spartans come into the Carlson Center in 10th place with 26 points after being swept at home by Northern Michigan this weekend.
