WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior Gianluca Marini (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) tallied a pair of third period goals as the Owls scored four unanswered goals to defeat Salem State 6-3 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from Salem, Mass. on Thursday night.
The Owls, playing in their first game since December 9, improved to 8-3-1 overall and move to 5-2-1 in the MASCAC. Salem State falls to 3-8 on the season and 3-5 in league play.
Westfield battled back from three separate one-goal deficits to enter the third period with the score tied at three goals apiece.
The Owls wasted no time finding the back of the net in the final frame with a sound forecheck by Westfield keeping the puck in the attacking zone. Circling the puck in the zone, a one-timer from Emile Pichette (Saint Eustache, Quebec) was saved by Vikings goalkeeper Will Nepveu (Montreal, Quebec) with Pichette collecting the rebound and finding Marini on the far post for the go-ahead score just 21 seconds into the period.
Marini collected his second goal of the contest just over the halfway point of the period, with Pichette being the primary facilitator again, carrying the puck behind the net before backhanding a pass towards the front of the net where Marini was able to roof a shot past Nepveu to double the Westfield lead, 5-3.
The Owls were able to put the game out of reach with 64 seconds left in the game after Colin Roe (Hyde Park, Mass.) secured an empty net tally to conclude the scoring on the night for both sides.
Westfield positioned themselves in a tie game through two periods despite falling behind on multiple different occasions. Christopher Dowd (Danville, N.H.) opened the scoring for either side, putting Salem ahead 7:21 into the game. The Owls evened the game six minutes later with Julian Boisclair (Voorhees, N.J.) burying his fourth goal of the season.
Salem reclaimed the lead early in the second period with Luke Day (Ottsville, Pa.) picking the back of the net 3:57 into the period. Westfield was quick to respond, taking advantage of a man-up scenario with Pichette scoring a power play goal off of assists from Marini and Daniel Finegan (Chicago, Ill.).
With under seven minutes to play in the second period, Carson Whitman (Boston, Mass.) gave the Vikings their third lead of the night only to see the Owls respond in the closing minutes of the frame as Ryan O'Halloran (Burlington, Mass.) found the equalizer 1:19 to go until the second intermission. The relentless attack from Westfield in the first 40 minutes set up the Owls strong third period effort.
Pichette led all skaters with four points on the night with Marini adding two goals and an assist. Owls goaltender Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) stopped 30 shots on net, picking up his fourth win of the season. Nepveu racked up 38 saves for the Vikings.
The Owls held a 44-33 shots advantage and held Salem scoreless in two man-advantage chances.
Westfield State will look to extend their four-game winning streak into a weekend matchup against Plymouth State on Saturday at [editor's note, now a 3:00 p.m. start] from Plymouth, N.H.