TROY, NY. – Casey Severo scored with the net empty in the third period to send the Crimson to another overtime game on Saturday night against the Engineers. Harvard completed the third-period comeback after
Marek Hejduk and
Alex Gaffney scored in the shootout to take the extra point in the final regular season road game of the season. The Crimson closes the regular season next weekend against Brown and Yale with ECAC playoff seeding up for grabs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Aku Koskenvuo was sharp in the first period after making 15 stops on 15 shots. Keeping the Crimson in the game in the first period, Harvard was outshot 15-5 in the opening twenty minutes. Koskenvuo's best stops in the first came after a giveaway in the slot forced the sophomore to make a quick blocker save before kicking out his pad on a partial break on another great RPI chance.
RPI scored first in the second period after a shot from the point bounced around in the crease and found an Engineer's stick for a 1-0 lead. Much like the first period, Koskenvuo was the story in the second period after stopping 25 of 26 shots through 40 minutes.
Searching for the tying goal.
Ryan Fine added his fourth of the season after going five-hole to tie the game at one. Finding a bit of space in the neutral zone, the rookie from New York skated in and picked his spot at the hash marks.
RPI wasted no time responding after converting on a one-timer to regain the lead.
With the net empty,
Casey Severo circled up to the point and fired a shot through traffic to tie the game at two with under two minutes left to go. Severo scored his seventh of the year and second goal against RPI this season.
Overtime would solve nothing as the Crimson went to its fifth shootout of the year. RPI scored first – but goals from
Alex Gaffney and
Marek Hejduk in the first two rounds set up Koskenvuo to shut the door and pick up the extra point in the top of the third round.
GAME NOTES
- Koskenvuo made 35 stops in a big performance between the pipes. 35 stops was the most the Finnish netminder has made in a game where the Crimson picked up at least a point since November 3rd.
- Ryan Fine netted his first goal since January 5th against Arizona State.
- Casey Severo added another clutch goal this season with the tying goal in the third. All seven goals this season have either narrowed the deficit to one, tied the game, or given the Crimson the lead. The third-period tally was his second tying goal against RPI this season.
- Underclassmen scored three of the four goals this weekend.
NEXT UP
The Crimson closes the regular season next weekend against Brown and Yale with ECAC playoff seeding up for grabs.
SOCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
