Thoughts and observations from Quinnipiac's 2-1 win over RPI

Quinnipiac got three much needed point in the capital region this weekend

Quinnipiac got into the win column and got two much needed ECAC points after a late Odeen Tufto power play goal stole a win in regulation on the road. Coupled with losses by Harvard and Cornell, Quinnipiac sits only one point out of first place with four games to play. Here are my thoughts and observations after the RPI game.

- Quinnipiac probably stole this game in regulation but they will take it. A late penalty on RPI's Donovan Ott opened the door for Quinnipiac to get out of Houston Field House with a 2-1 win after Odeen Tufto banged one home from the slot for his 14th goal of the season. It was the first power play goal for Quinnipiac since the St. Lawrence game.

- Andrew Shortridge only made 18 saves but really kept Quinnipiac in this one with a key save on Brady Wiffen on the power play to keep the score 1-0. He made the saves he had to make and continues to play at a high level and likely will be the ECAC goaltender of the year if this play continues.  

- This game was a dogfight with RPI and frankly I am not surprised one bit. The Engineers have been one of the better ECAC teams since the calendar has turned to 2019 and they have a very good goaltender in freshman Owen Savory who continues to play at a high level and keep RPI in games. The RPI defense was also very good cutting off lanes for Quinnipiac to shoot. Color me impressed by RPI and I believe they will be a tough out in the ECAC playoffs with the way they are playing.

- It is definitely time to be a bit concerned with this offense as they have a combined four goals in their last three games. The injury to Brandon Fortunato is showing up right now as they have not been able to get into a rhythm offensively the past three games. If they can't improve the offense over what we have seen the past three games then this injury is clearly going to loom large for this team.

- It was a big night for the Bobcats on the face-off dot as they beat RPI 44-18 in that category. 

William Fallstrom continues to remind me of Tommy Schutt on face offs as he won 10 of 12 tonight while Nick Jermain won 15 and Odeen Tufto won 12. Scott Davidson also went 5 for 5 on the face-off dot as well.

- Daniel Winslow returned to the lineup and scored the tying goal in the second period and had a great celebration to boot. Winslow has given this team four goals this year but none bigger than that one so far. Two of his four goals have come against RPI in both of the games this season.

- I thought the Quinnipiac power play struggled at times with too much cycling of the puck and not enough shooting. They need to put the puck on net and create chaos in front of the net to cause redirects and deflections for goals. Good things happen sometimes when you put pucks towards the goal. 

- The win moved Quinnipiac back to 5th in the pairwise after Saturday night as Ohio State was swept on the weekend by Minnesota. The Bobcats remain in a good spot right now and can still get a number one seed depending on how they finished the regular season and conference tournament. 

- Next weekend is the final regular season home stand of the year with St. Lawrence on Friday followed by a very good Clarkson team on Saturday night which is senior night. Chase Priskie, Brandon Fortunato, Craig Martin, Scott Davidson and Luke Shiplo will be honored for their four year careers with the Bobcats. 

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