LEWISTON – For 14 minutes, St. Dom’s looked untouchable.

Two periods, a pair of penalties and several mental mistakes and giveaways later, the Saints left the ice bewildered.

They had played well, but Falmouth had played smart.

Nick Galli scored the game-winning goal in the second period on the Yachtsmen’s fifth power play of the night, Jordan Hale had a pair of goals and Brian Greene added a pair of helpers to lift Falmouth (6-1) to a 6-2 triumph.

“This had the potential to be a classic trap game for us,” Falmouth coach Scott Rousseau said. “We played a rivalry game against Greely (Monday) and have Cheverus on Thursday night.”

Falmouth goaltender Derek Kump, hung out to dry on a pair of goals early in the first period, recovered well and stopped the last 27 shots he saw, including several through traffic as the Saints tried feverishly to get back into the game.

“I thought the defensemen did well to clear the puck away all night, and they kept everything to the outside,” Kump said. “They had no second chances.”

“Those 34 shots he saw, there were a lot of quality shots,” St. Dom’s coach John Pleau said. “We had a lot of traffic in front, and the rebounds, he was gathering them up at the end.”

The Saints dominated the opening frame with solid cycles down low and quick neutral-zone transition.

Codie Keene fanned on a cross-ice feed in front of Kump and converted the Saints’ first goal at 5:49. C.J. Bergeron finished a scrum in front with a backhand goal at 9:45 to put the hosts ahead, 2-0.

“They played a really good game,” Rousseau said. “They were quick, first on the puck, and really took it to us.”

Falmouth remained on its heels until a late hooking call to Sheldon Roy. The Yachtsmen converted at 14:06 when Hale fired a wrist shot through traffic and beat Brown to the glove side.

With four seconds to go, Falmouth completed the comeback when Cam Hart stuffed the puck through Brown as the goalie’s skate slid off the post to his right.

“Instead of going into the break up 2-0, within a matter of one minute, it was 2-2,” Pleau said. “Now we have to regroup. I think we outplayed them most of the way, but the giveaways and power play goals, that hurt us.”

In the second, the teams traded shots early, and settled into some defensive hockey through the middle of the period. Another late penalty to St. Dom’s gave the Yachtsmen another late-period chance. They converted on a funny bounce in front of Brown off his own defenseman as Galli tried to center it through the crease.

“I was trying to go across,” Galli said. “The goalie tried to play it, it hit him and went through his legs.”

The Yachtsmen opened the game up in the third as the Saints (2-2) committed a series of turnovers that gave Falmouth two breakaways.

Hale, Sam Lundquist and Dan Hanley all scored in the final frame to put the Saints away.

Copy the Story Link