Lindenwood Rallies Past Buffalo 7-5
Four Goal Third Lifts Lions
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:48AM February 5th, 2009 9:34PM
Mount Pleasant, Pa - Brandon Barnette and Travis Fudge both scored two goals as Lindenwood remained perfect on the season by rallying past Buffalo 7-5.
Buffalo jumped out to the 1-0 lead when Joe Malinowski finished off a 3-on-1 break after a nice feed from Tyler Walser. The lead was short lived. Brandon Barnette scored his first of the game on a nice one-timer, firing the puck just under the cross bar and knotting the game at one. Walser would use the man advantage to ensure the Wings went to the intermission with the lead, firing a low shot through the screen and into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead after one.
It didn't take long for Lindenwood to knot things up in the second. Elliott Linton scored just 47 seconds into the period, firing a quick wrist shot from the circle high over Richie Latona's glove hand. Four minutes later, Travis Fudge gave the Lions their first lead of the game, firing a hard shot that barley crossed the goal line for the 3-2 lead.
After surrendering the lead, Buffalo show the will and determination to pull off the upset, scoring the next three goals in a span of 2:32. Shaun Golden got things started, slamming home the juicy rebound of a hard Malinowski wrist shot to tie things at three. Walser gave the lead back to Buffalo after sneaking behind the defense and putting a nice move on Marcus Rodgers for a 4-3 lead. Walser helped put Buffalo up by two, finding Malinowski at the far post with a quick pass and goal for the final tally of the second period.
Lindenwood used the intermission to make the adjustments a championship team makes and came out flying in the third period. Just 45 seconds into the period, Fudge was on the receiving end of a nice back door pass from Kyle Gouge for the east tap in goal. Gouge was not done, scoring on a screen shot after cutting to the center of the rink and firing the puck past both the defense and goalie just over one minute later.
From there on out it was all Lindenwood. Jake Hill set up the game winning goal with just under five to go in the third. Jake skated down the wing and faked a slap shot only to send a cross rink pass to Jeff Hill for the back door goal and a 6-5 lead. With 2:36 remaining in the game and Buffalo pressing, Barnette picked the last man back for Buffalo's pocket and raced in for a easy breakaway tally and the final 7-5 margin. BOX SCORE
