TROY — When he needed to the most, RPI sophomore goaltender Jack Watson stood his ground in the Engineers’ crease.
Watson’s save midway through the first period on Ian Murphy’s penalty shot swung the momentum in RPI’s favor and an energized Engineers team scored three goals in a five-minute span following the save en route to a 6-4 win over Princeton on Friday at Houston Field House.
The win, coupled with Union’s loss to Quinnipiac, secures no worse than the No. 8 seed in the upcoming ECAC playoffs for RPI (14-18-1, 9-12-0) as the Engineers will host a single-elimination, first-round game next Saturday night.
The win improves RPI’s home record to 12-4-1.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy, took pucks to the net, got some good bounces in there. Happy with the start,” RPI coach Dave Smith said. “It was 1-1, nine minutes on the clock and we score right after it (the penalty shot save). It is a massive turning point on one of their highly skilled, top-line guys. There a lot of ways to get and keep momentum and that gave us a boost for sure.”
With the game tied at 1, Murphy had a step on RPI defenseman Jack Agnew as he bore down on Watson, drawing a hooking call on Agnew and was awarded the penalty shot.
Murphy, who scored the opening goal of the game, swung wide to his right side before heading to the net but Watson never budged, turning away the bid with 8 minutes, 59 seconds left in the first.
“Get out, hold your ground, wait for the right distance and start coming back,” Watson said. “You just want them to make the first move, you want them to commit first and be as patient as possible. I waited him out. I thought he might think five-hole there. I gave him a little half and he went to the blocker.”
Just more than two minutes following the penalty shot save, Austin…
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