Plattsburgh tops Potsdam to snap four-game skid

PLATTSBURGH | Plattsburgh State salvaged a weekend split and snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 SUNYAC men's hockey victory over Potsdam on Saturday, Jan. 17. The Cardinals built a three-goal lead through two periods and closed it out behind a strong performance from freshman goaltender Brady Spry. Jake Sacratini opened the scoring 2:02 into the first period, Gabriel Filion added the eventual game-winner early in the second and Vladislav Pshenichnikov capped a two-goal power-play stretch later in the period as Plattsburgh rebounded from a 3-1 loss to Canton the night before. Sacratini's goal came after Quinn Tavares won a race to the puck behind the Potsdam net and backhanded a centering pass that banked off Sacratini's skate and crossed the goal line. Plattsburgh doubled the lead 1:25 into the second period on the power play. Off an offensive-zone draw, Sacratini found Filion on the backdoor with a cross-ice pass, and Filion tapped the puck in from the doorstep. Pshenichnikov made it 3-0 at 9:13 of the second, again on the power play. After Plattsburgh won a battle along the end boards, the puck was worked back to the point before Tavares sent a cross-ice pass to Pshenichnikov at the top of the left circle, where he rifled a shot over the blocker. Potsdam broke through at 6:30 of the third period. After the Bears won an offensive-zone draw and a puck battle along the wall, Spry made a pair of saves before Owen Watson shoveled the puck across the goal line during a scramble in front. Spry finished with 37 saves as Plattsburgh held on over the final minutes. "I give the guys a ton of credit," Plattsburgh head coach Steve Moffat said. "There was a meeting last night, a meeting this morning, a meeting before the game. Just kind of reiterated how important the game was. "The thing that we did differently tonight — we were physical. Like, we were finishing our hits. We were sacrificing our bodies. We were blocking shots. And guys were afraid to lose, you know? Like, in a good way. It's like we cannot afford to lose this game, so they were doing anything that they could to win that game, and that's the effort we needed. It was just the second and third effort that was the impressive part. We always work hard, but it's the second and third effort that makes a difference." Moffat pointed to the opening 40 minutes as the foundation of the win. "I thought our first 40 minutes were probably the best that we've played all year," Moffat said. "When we got pucks deep and we forechecked, we caused turnovers. We generated a lot of scoring chances off of that, and the guys have to learn that's what works. "It's not the highlight-reel stuff. It's the mundane things that the average person isn't necessarily catching. It's getting pucks deep, it's finishing your hits, and you don't have to kill guys. You just have to lean on them. You've got to hit them constantly, and it tires them out, and I thought we did a great job of that." Plattsburgh went 2-for-7 on the power play after making adjustments earlier in the week. "Yeah, we made a couple adjustments actually on Thursday on the power play. We wanted to get more shots," Moffat said. "We wanted to generate some more traffic in front. Obviously evident on the screen from, you know, Vladdy had a great shot with some traffic in front. And then Gabe's goal, he's just on the backdoor. "But again, just getting pucks to the net. When you're struggling to score goals, you need to manufacture some, and we were able to do that." Moffat credited Spry's play in net. "He played excellent," Moffat said. "I thought he was aggressive. I thought he was tracking pucks really well. He's so good down low. He's got a lot of swagger to him. "He makes the saves that you're supposed to make too, and that's what we need. And then, hey, let's steal one every once in a while. We haven't had that yet. But hopefully that's later on down the line that we got a goalie that can steal one for us." Plattsburgh returns home next weekend to host No. 1 Hobart and No. 5 Oswego on Jan. 23 and 24. Hobart has won three consecutive national championships and enters the weekend 28-0-1 in its last 29 games. "Honestly, this is the first I've really thought about it. I haven't thought about it much. Let's just enjoy tonight. These wins are hard, and they're hard to come by. I just want to take the next 24 hours to kind of enjoy that," Moffat said.

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Plattsburgh tops Potsdam to snap four-game skid

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