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Syracuse strikes back to even up weekend series with Rochester.

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Martin Ouellette allowed 1 goal on 37 shots for the victory. There's real intrigue in net in Syracuse where speculation has ranged from Connor Ingram possibly nursing an injury, living in Ben Groulx's Chateau au Bow Wow, or the Crunch showcasing Eddie Pasquale for a potential trade for a veteran D-man so the Lightning can recall Jan Rutta full time. With the AHL trade deadline coming Monday, at least one of those scenarios will be eliminated soon.

First Period
7:24 SYR Andreoff (22), (Verhaeghe, Conacher)(PP)

Second Priod
3:57 ROC Nylander (10), (Tennyson, Leier)
6:38 SYR Barre-Boulet (27), (Verhaeghe, Conacher)(PP)
12:00 SYR Stephens (9), (Colton, Foote)(PP)

Third Period
18:51 SYR Katchouk (9), (Stephens)(EN)

Ouellette and Carter Verhaeghe were the game's first and second stars.

Syracuse and Rochester now sit tied atop the North Division with Syracuse holding a game in hand and a two game lead in the ROW tiebreaker.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

#1 St. Cloud State Huskies 5 @ #10 Western Michigan Broncos 4 (Mar 1st)
#1 St. Cloud State Huskies 8 @ #10 Western Michigan Broncos 2 (Mar 2nd)

D Nick Perbix, STC: 2 GP, 0-1-1, +2, 0 PIM, 0 SOG
Season Totals: 32 GP, 3-13-16, +21, 8 PIM

On Friday night, the top-ranked Huskies battled tooth-and-nail with the #10 Broncos in Kalamazoo, rallying from a 4-2 deficit with 10 minutes left in the game to score three unanswered to squeak the win. Robby Jackson (undrafted) scored twice in the last 3 minutes of the game, including the game-winner with just 15 seconds remaining. On Saturday night, Bolt prospect Nick Perbix helped setup Blake Lizotte’s (undrafted) 2nd goal of the game, as the Huskies ran up a 7-0 score against Western Michigan before finally pasting a snowman on the scoreboard to punctuate their final road game of the season. Perbix leads all NCHC freshmen with his +21 rating, and his 13 assists are good for 6th in the conference among freshmen.

The top-ranked Huskies improve to 25-4-3 (17-2-3 NCHC) and return home next weekend for a major regular season ending showdown series against conference foe #3 Minnesota-Duluth.

Miami Redhawks 2 @ #3 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs 4 (Mar 1st)
Miami Redhawks 5 @ #3 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs 6 (Mar 2nd)

F Cole Koepke, UMD: 2 GP, 1-0-1, +1, 4 PIM, 5 SOG
Season Totals: 32 GP, 4-10-14, +9, 12 PIM

On Friday night, Lightning prospect Cole Koepke scored an insurance goal in the 3rd period for the #3 Bulldogs. It was his 4th goal of the season, breaking a three-game pointless streak. After Flyers prospect Noah Cates (PHI, 2017 5th round pick) opened the scoring for UMD with two goals in the 2nd period, the Redhawks twice closed within a goal but could never get the equalizer. On Saturday night, Nick Wolff scored the first two goals to give the Bulldogs an early 2-0 lead, but Miami battled back to knot the score at 2-2 before rallying twice more and then surging ahead 5-4 in the 2nd period. The Bulldogs mounted a rally of their own, scoring the final two goals to complete the weekend sweep of the Redhawks.

UMD improves to 21-9-2 (14-7-1 NCHC) and hits the road for their regular season finale against top-ranked St. Cloud State next weekend.

#6 Denver Pioneers 1 @ Colorado College Tigers 0 (Feb 26th)
#6 Denver Pioneers 4 @ Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 1 (Mar 1st)
#6 Denver Pioneers 3 @ Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 3 (OT) (Mar 2nd)

F Cole Guttman, DEN: 3 GP, 1-2-3, +2, 2 PIM, 5 SOG, 7/14 FO
Season Totals: 32 GP, 11-10-21, +15, 18 PIM

Last Tuesday night, the Pioneers returned to Colorado Springs to play the postponed game from January. Denver goalie Devin Cooley (undrafted) pitched a 24-save shutout to make the goal by former Sharks and Oilers head coach Todd McLellan’s son Tyson (undrafted) stand as the game-winner.

On Fright night, Bolt prospect Cole Guttman setup Michael Davies’ (undrafted) game opening power play marker, and then closed out the Pioneer scoring in the 3rd with his 11th goal of the season. Guttman’s 11 tallies on the season sits atop the NCHC in freshmen goal scoring. On Saturday night, Kevin Conley (undrafted) scored a pair of power play goals to rally UNO to from a two-goal deficit to force a tie with the 6th-ranked Pioneers. Guttman set up a Liam Finlay (undrafted) marker early in the 2nd period to give Denver a 2-1 lead.

Denver improves to 19-8-5 (11-8-3 NCHC) and looks ahead to next weekend’s regular season finale in a home-and-home series against Colorado College.

#11 Cornell Big Red 4 @ St. Lawrence Saints 2 (Mar 1st)
#11 Cornell Big Red 2 @ #13 Clarkson Golden Knights 2 (OT) (Mar 2nd)

D Alex Green, COR: 2 GP, 0-0-0, E, 2 PIM, 1 SOG
Season Totals: 13 GP, 0-3-3, -8, 6 PIM
’17-’18 Totals: 29 GP, 2-8-10, +9, 23 PIM

On Friday night, Michael Regush (undrafted) scored a pair of 1st period goals and the Big Red established a 3-0 lead and never looked back. On Saturday night, Cornell goalie Matthew Galajda (undrafted) made 33-saves to help the Big Red eek out a road tie against the 13th-ranked Golden Knights. For Lightning prospect Alex Green, an injury-marred regular season comes to an end in which he registered only three assists and a team-worst -8 rating.

Cornell finishes the season with a record of 17-8-4 (13-5-4 ECAC), and takes next weekend off before the ECAC conference tournament quarterfinals begin on March 15th.

#14 UMass-Lowell River Hawks 0 @ New Hampshire Wildcats 1 (Mar 1st)
New Hampshire Wildcats 2 @ #14 UMass-Lowell River Hawks 2 (OT) (Mar 2nd)

F Ryan Lohin, UML: 2 GP, 0-1-1, +1, 2 PIM, 3 SOG, 3/8 FO
Season Totals: 29 GP, 12-14-26, +8, 8 PIM
’17-‘18 Totals: 36 GP, 9-16-25, -2, 26 PIM

G Ty Taylor, UNH: did not play
Season Totals: 7 GP, 1-3-1, 3.82 GAA, 0.853 SV%

On Friday night, Sharks prospect Mike Robinson pitched a 29-save shutout for UNH to seal the 1-0 upset over the #14 River Hawks. On Saturday night, Bolt prospect Ryan Lohin helped setup the game’s opening goal by Kenny Hausinger (undrafted) for his 26th point of the season, eclipsing last season’s point total in seven fewer games. The gamey Wildcats fought back to take a 2-1 lead after 1st period, before a UML power-play marker in the 2nd proved to be the equalizer. Lohin's 12 goals and 26 points leads UML in both categories

UML drops to 18-11-4 (12-4-4 HEAST) and looks ahead to next weekend’s final regular season game against Vermont. UNH improves to 12-12-9 (8-9-6 HEAST) and faces off next weekend against #9 Northeastern in their regular season finale. The Hockey East conference tournament quarterfinals begins the week after for both teams.

#12 Arizona State Sun Devils 1 @ Minnesota Gophers 5 (Mar 1st)
#12 Arizona State Sun Devils 2 @ Minnesota Gophers 5 (Mar 2nd)

D Ryan Zuhlsdorf , MINN: 2 GP, 0-2-2, +3, 2 PIM, 2 SOG
Season Totals: 32 GP, 1-7-8, +1, 22 PIM
’17-‘18 Totals: 38 GP, 0-9-9, +1, 40 PIM

F Sammy Walker, MINN: 2 GP, 1-1-2, E, 0 PIM, 8 SOG, 7/15 FO
Season Totals: 35 GP, 10-14-24, +5, 18 PIM

Bolt prospect Sammy Walker notched his 10th goal of the season to knot the score 1-1 in the 1st period Friday, and then setup Blake McLaughlin in the 2nd for what would be the eventual game-winner. The Golden Gophers would reel off five unanswered after surrendering the opening goal to the 12th-ranked Sun Devils. Fellow Lightning prospect Ryan Zuhlsdorf helped set up Minnesota’s 3rd goal 40 seconds into the 3rd period. In addition to a 2-point night, Walker was +2, fired a game-high 5 shots, and won over 50% of his faceoffs. Walker’s 24 points on the season leads the Big Ten freshmen in points. On Saturday night, the Gophers scored another five goals on Arizona State, with Zuhlsdorf setting up Avs prospect Sampo Ranta (COL, 2018 3rd round pick) in the 1st to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead. Zuhlsdorf ends the regular season with a three-game point streak, and is just 1 point shy of his last season’s point total in 6 fewer games.

Minnesota ends their regular season with a winning record of 16-15-4 (12-10-3 B1G), and with some momentum heading into the Big 10 conference tournament quarterfinals next weekend.

*USCHO poll used for rankings

Lightning cruise to 50th win against beleaguered Sens.

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Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed 1 goal on 37 shots for the victory. The Lightning weren't super-sharp in front of him defensively, but he simply never let Ottawa into this game. That included stopping a Second Period Bobby Ryan penalty shot that would've allowed the Senators to claw within 3-2 at the time.

First Period
7:17 TB Hedman (9), (Cirelli, Girardi)
8:51 TB McDonagh (7), (Cernak, Kucherov)
9:28 OTT Duclair (13), (Gibbons, Boedker)

Second Period
3:15 TB Cernak (3), (Killorn, Coburn)
15:27 TB Kucherov (31), (Hedman, Erne)

Third Period
1:59 TB Sergachev (5), (Coburn, Killorn)

Erik Cernak, Nikita Kucherov, and Alex Killorn were the game's three stars.

Ottawa came into this game having just fired their coach while sitting in the basement of the Atlantic Division, drawing a grumpy Lightning team that saw a 10-game winning streak snapped in ugly fashion in Boston. The night ultimately went like you'd expect. You always want to respect your opponent, but honestly Ottawa never had a prayer.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

Crunch drop key tilt atop North Division.

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Eddie Pasquale allowed 5 goals on 42 shots for the loss.

First Period
3:40 ROC Leier (14), (Smith, Borgen)(SH)

Second Period
0:10 ROC Nylander (9), (unassisted)
11:53 SYR Stephens (7), (Colton, Raddysh)(PP)
13:43 ROC Leier (15), (Pilut, Redmond)

Third Period
9:37 SYR Stephens (8), (Verhaeghe, Barre-Boulet)
15:42 ROC Olofsson (22), (Oglevie, Asplund)
16:44 ROC Smith (20), (Nylander, Redmond)
18:44 SYR Colton (10), (Rutta, Foote)(PP)

Mitchell Stephens was the game's second star.

Syracuse was outshot by a very bad 42-26 margin en route to this key 4-point loss.

Box score from TheAHL.com.