A night after perhaps stealing a tie, the Colorado College Tigers let one slip away at the World Arena.
Josh Balch scored with 1:39 remaining in overtime to give Yale a 6-5 win Saturday over the 14th-ranked Tigers. CC (7-6-1) led 4-3 and 5-4 in the second, but could not hold off the Bulldogs (5-2-1), who defeated No. 2 Denver 2-1 in overtime Friday night.
The Tigers allowed 48 shots from Yale and 49 from No. 3 New Hampshire in Friday’s 4-4 overtime tie and fell to 0-3-1 in their last four games.
“We’ve just got to close out games,” coach Scott Owens said. “We got a nice goal to go up 5-4 ... we should have gotten the next goal to put it away in our building, and we didn’t. We scored nine goals at home and didn’t win a game (this weekend).
“I’ve got to give Yale a lot of credit. They have a lot of good players, and their first line is as good as any in the country.”
The Tigers held a 5-4 lead midway through the third period, but were a man down after Alexander Krushelnyski was called for slashing. Yale took advantage, tying the score on Andrew Miller’s power-play goal with 7:57 remaining in regulation.
CC had a pair of quality scoring chances in the extra period, but could not convert. It was a frustrating night for the Tigers, who trailed Yale 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 at different times in the opening period.
“It’s definitely frustrating and seems like the same game every night,” said junior defenseman Eamonn McDermott, who scored CC’s second goal of the game. “We dig ourselves into a hole, get out of it and then have trouble closing it out and holding on. We’ve got to learn from this and move on.”
CC senior goalie Joe Howe (3-3-1) made 42 saves, but simply faced too many shots.
“I’m concerned by the number of shots we’re giving up and the number of goals we’re giving up,” Owens said. “I know we’re playing an incredible schedule right now, but I’m concerned with it. We’re not blocking enough shots, we’re tentative defensively and need to work on funneling back.”
The first period was a scoring frenzy, with Yale taking a 1-0 lead on an Antoine Laganiere goal just 57 seconds into the game. The teams exchanged a trio of alternating goals in a 39-second stretch beginning with Rylan Schwartz’s strike 4:33 into the period. Yale took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.
Archie Skalbeck tied the score yet again with a goal 1:20 into the second, and Scott Winkler’s power-play goal 10:08 into the period gave CC its first lead in 12 periods. That lasted 45 seconds before Yale’s Trent Ruffolo scored with 9:07 left in the second.
CC freshman Jared Hanson struck next, putting the Tigers up 5-4 with 6:23 left in the period. That prompted Yale coach Keith Allain to pull Malcolm for Nick Maricic, who had nine saves.