Lakers come back from two-goal deficit and fall in double OT
KALAMAZOO - Lake Superior State fought back from a two-goal deficit to tie Western Michigan with 2:30 remaining in regulation, then lost 4-3 to the Broncos in double overtime Saturday at Lawson Arena.
WMU's win tied the Central Collegiate Hockey Association first-round playoff series, 1-1. Game 3 will take place at 7:35 p.m. Sunday in Kalamazoo. It's the second straight year that the Lakers will play a three-game set during the opening round of the playoffs.
Nebraska-Omaha, Ohio State and Northern Michigan swept their series and have advanced to the second round.
Western Michigan (13-18-7), which also came back from a 7-4 first-game loss to split a regular-season series with the Lakers (11-19-8) in Sault Ste. Marie two weeks ago, built a 3-1 lead early in the second period. WMU's Greg Squires and LSSU's Dan Barczuk traded goals to make it 1-1 midway through the first period. Steve Oleksy and Chad Nehring assisted on Barczuk's goal.
Kevin Connauton gave the Broncos a 2-1 lead at 16:46 of the first period. WMU's Jared Katz increased the lead to 3-1 with a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 7:24 of the second period.
LSSU's Nathan Perkovich, who mishandled a penalty shot at 17:45 of the first period, jammed the puck past WMU goaltender Riley Gill at 17:17 of the second period to cut the Broncos' lead to 3-2. Laker Matt Cowie, who also scored during Friday's 6-3 LSSU victory, tallied the game-tying goal at 17:30 of the third period.
The game remained deadlocked until Connauton scored at 7:57 of the second overtime period. Kyle O'Kane and J.J. Crew both picked up their second assists of the night on the game-winning goal.
Troy Schwab assisted on Perkovich's goal to increase his season point total to 31 and become the highest single-season scorer for the Lakers since Terry Marchant had 39 points in 1997-98. Zac MacVoy had the lone assist on Cowie's goal.
Gill finished with 54 saves, while LSSU goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson had a season-high 41. WMU finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while LSSU (11-19-8) was 0-for-6.
