Huskies skate to come-from-behind shootout win over X-Men

(ANTIGONISH, N.S.) - The Saint Mary's Huskies skated away with a 4-3 come-from-behind shootout victory over the StFX X-Men  Friday night at the Keating Centre. 

Stephen Johnston scored the lone shootout goal and Anthony Peters had 35 saves in the Huskies net as they overcame a 3-0 deficit for the win, scoring three unanswered third period goals, including the game-tying marker by Matt Tipoff with only 19 seconds left to force the extra period.

The X-Men got off to a quick start in the game as Subway Player of the Game Jason Bast fired home a goal 52 seconds in. He redirected a Brandon Hynes pass from the corner.

StFX scored two more in the second period to take a 3-0 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes of play.

The Huskies ran into penalty trouble in the second period, finding themselves in the box for four consecutive minor offences. The X-Men could only take advantage of one of those power-play opportunities, however.

Hynes scored their second goal at 14:18 (even strength), tipping in a Jason Bast point shot with Brennen Wray also picking up a helper.

Hynes and Bast then connected with Michael Kirkpatrick on the power-play at 16:45. Bast's initial shot hit the cross bar then Kirkpatrick fired in the rebound.

Cue the comeback.

The Huskies notched a quick goal 28 seconds into the third period as Kyle Pereira kick started their comeback, finding a loose puck in front of the net and putting it past StFX goaltender Drew Owsley.

Mitchell Maynard closed the gap to one goal as he scored at 4:50, picking up the puck at the side of the net and shoveling it in over Owsley's blocker on the short side. Pereira and Jamie Doornbosch assisted.

Savage made several key saves in the third period to keep the Huskies alive, including a toe save on Steven Kuhn with a minute to play.

Tipoff's goal came with the extra attacker on the ice as the Huskies had an empty net with just over a minute to play. His screen shot through traffic beat Owsley to send the game into overtime. Steven Beyers and Michael D'Orazio had the assists.

The overtime period saw the X-Men outshoot the Huskies 9-3 but they could not solve Peters. X-Men defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer had a great chance for X but was stoned by Peters from point blank range midway through the extra period.

Owsley then kept the X-Men in the game with a diving glove save off Tipoff with under a minute to play.

After Hynes (StFX) and Beyers (SMU) did not score on their shootout opportunities, Bast was stopped by Peters, then Johnston scored on his shot, beating Owsley five hole. Kirkpatrick was up for StFX and despite a nifty move to beat Peters, his roof shot just missed the top of the net, sealing the win for the Huskies.

Peters had 35 saves on the evening as the X-Men outshot the Huskies 38-27. Owsley turned aside 24 pucks in the StFX net.

Hynes and Bast each tallied one goal and two assists on the evening for the X-Men who now sit in fifth place in the AUS conference with a 10-9-2 record.

StFX have dropped four of their last five games and the road doesn't get any easier as they travel to Wolfville, N.S. tomorrow evening for a 7 p.m. game against the AUS first-place and CIS No. 4-ranked Acadia Axemen (16-2-3).

The sixth-place Huskies (10-11-0) will play Dalhousie (2-18-1) Tuesday evening in a rescheduled game from Jan. 22.

Source: StFX Sports Information