An empty net goal in the dying seconds ended a dramatic Panthers rally as the St. Mary's Huskies snapped UPEI's three-game winning streak with a 5-3 win in AUS men's hockey action Saturday night in Halifax.
The loss came after a dominating 7-3 win for UPEI over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in Antigonish on Friday.
UPEI now sports an 11-7 record for 22 points to sit in fifth place in the highly-competitive AUS conference, but only six points back of first place UNB Varsity Reds who dropped games to the Huskies and X-Men over the weekend.
UPEI head coach Forbes MacPherson said going .500 against two tough AUS teams on the road was still good for a couple of points.
"Anytime you go on the road in this league you're happy to get any amount of points," said MacPherson.
"We've been playing pretty good lately and have been winning some close games but last night just wasn't in the cards. I think SMU played really well and happened to get the win. That's the league and every night is a dogfight."
St. Mary's Patrick O'Keefe netted the game-winner with his second goal of the night at 1:24 in the third period to give the Huskies a 4-1 lead.
The Huskies' other goals came from Shawn O'Donnell, Cam Fergus and Colby Pridham.
Alternate captain Jared Gomes scored twice for the Panthers while Chad Locke had the other UPEI goal.
Gomes said Saturday's loss was disappointing in missing a big opportunity to move up in the tight standings.
"We didn't feel that we brought it in the first period, we came out flat," said Gomes. "Every game against SMU is a big game and because we came out the way we did, it's unacceptable."
St. Mary's goalie Neil Conway stopped 27 of 30 shots while UPEI's Mavric Parks stopped 27 of 31.
Locke opened Saturday's scoring when he found the net at 14:42 of the first period.
O'Donnell tied it up for the Huskies just over two minutes later and the Huskies scored again at 18:51 to lead 2-1 going into the second period.
Huskies' Fergus was the only player to score in the second, finding the net at 18:26.
O'Keefe netted the game winner less than two minutes into the third as SMU grabbed a commanding 4-1 lead.
The Panthers then stormed back as Gomes scored while UPEI was short-handed at 5:30 and again on the powerplay at 19:33 to cut the lead to one.
The Panthers pulled Parks but Pridham scored an empty-netter with four seconds left to seal the win for the Huskies.
UPEI play at home Wednesday, when they host Moncton at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown. Game time is 7 p.m.
With only 10 games and little more than three weeks left in the AUS regular season, each matchup continues to grow in importance for UPEI.
"Every game is important. This game against Moncton will be perhaps the biggest game of the year up to this point," said MacPherson. "And I'll probably be saying the same thing whenever we get to Friday's game (against the St. Thomas Tommies in Fredericton)."
"Games against Moncton are tough and fast," added Gomes. "We're going to have to continue getting some wins coming down this stretch. We have a lot of games left in a short amount of time. If you're not focused and ready to play every game, you can find yourself fighting just for a playoff position."
