MORRISVILLE — The Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team’s SUNYAC weekend on the road didn’t start out well Friday night when Cortland took a 2-0 lead against the Cardinals just 3:05 gone in the game.
But that would be all the scoring the Red Dragons, or Morrisville on Saturday, would do as the Cardinals (10-10, 6-7) had one of their best weekends of the season.
Joshua Belgrave’s goal with six seconds remaining in overtime gave Plattsburgh a 3-2 win over Cortland, and the Cardinals then gained revenge for an earlier loss to the Mustangs with a 6-0 victory the next night.
Jake Sacratini scored three goals and added two assists in the two games, while goaltender Beau Lane picked up the win in net in both contests with a combined 56 saves on 58 shots on goal.
FRIDAY
PLATTSBURGH 3
CORTLAND 2, OT
CORTLAND — Jack Martin and Matthew DeSpirt scored goals in the first 3:05 of the contest to give the Red Dragons (9-9-1, 6-5-1) a 2-0 lead.
“We came out flying the first three or four shifts of the game,” Plattsburgh head coach Steve Moffat said. “Then they scored a transition goal, and then get another off a lucky bounce, and it’s like, ‘Oh, man, here we go again.’ But there was no panic on the bench, and we stuck with it and were able to fight back.”
The Cardinals answered back late in the stanza when Sacratini tallied at 15:56 and then at 18:07 to tie it.
“Sacratini had an amazing weekend,” Moffat said. “That whole line of Sacratini, (Quinn) Tavares and (Gabriel) played great.”
It remained tied until Belgrave’s game-winning goal at 4:53.4 of overtime.
“The second period was a little sloppy for both teams. We weren’t able to capitalize on some chances we had,” Moffat said. “It could have been a 4-2 or 5-2 game either way going to the third where the game stayed tied.
“We had the puck nearly the whole time in overtime, and they were aggressive. They had three players in the corner when Belgrave got a loose puck coming off the bench and scored.
“It’s kind of a range of emotion in overtime. On one side, you say we came from 2-0 down and get a point no matter what. But, on the other side, you want to win the game and it was like, ‘Let’s go and win it.’”
Lane made 35 saves on 37 shots in the Plattsburgh nets, anwd Shane Shelest stopped 27 of 30 for the Red Dragons.
SATURDAY
PLATTSBURGH 6
MORRISVILLE 0
MORRISVILLE — The Cardinals scored two goals in each period, and Lane posted the shutout with 21 saves.
Filion, Alexandro Moliner, Spencer Bellina, Sacratini, Lonan Bulger and Tavares all scored goals for the Cardinals. Tavares also had three assists on the weekend.
The Cardinals held a 44-21 shots on-goal advantage, with Grant Linville making 38 saves in the Mustangs’ (2-16-2, 1-10-2) nets.
“That felt great, to not be in a one-goal game,” Moffat said. “I would like to see us have more of a killer instinct. Sometimes, we are too unselfish when we pass up shots to pass the puck to a teammate. I would like to see us be a little more selfish at times.
“But our goal was to get a four-point weekend, and we were able to achieve that. I was proud of the guys.”
The Cardinals return home for SUNYAC contests against Buffalo State on Friday night and Fredonia on Saturday.
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Friday
Plattsburgh 3, Cortland 2, OT
PSU 2 0 0 1 — 3
Cort 2 0 0 0 — 2
First period- 1, Cort, Martin (Kyrkostas, Clouden), 1:56. 2, Cort, DeSpirt (Phillips, Krieger), 3:05. 3, PSU, Sacratini (Tavares, Ward), 15:56. 4, PSU, Sacratini (Bellina, Tavares), 18:07.
Overtime- 5, PSU, Belgrave (Catron), 4:53.4.
Shots on goal- Cortland, 37-30.
Saves- Lane, PSU, 35. Shelest, Cort, 27.
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Saturday
Plattsburgh 6, Morrisville 0
PSU 2 2 2 — 6
Morr 0 0 0 — 0
First period- 1, PSU, Filion (Sacratini, Taveres), 16:59. 2, PSU, Moliner (Bellina), 18:48.
Second period- 3, PSU, Bellina (Tavares), 13:09. 4, PSU, Sacratini (Butler), 17:51.
Third period- 5, PSU, Bulger, 6:37. 6, PSU, Tavares (Sacratini), 11:35.
Shots on goal- PSU, 44-21.
Saves- Lane, PSU, 21. Linville, Morr, 38.