Box Score

TROY, N.Y. -- Michael Kennedy had a goal and an assist and Ben Scrivens posted his fifth shutout of the season as Cornell picked up its third four-point weekend of the league season with a 3-0 win at Rensselaer on Saturday night. The win improves the Big Red to 13-1-3 on the year and 8-0-2 in ECAC Hockey action. Rensselaer drops to 5-16-2 overall and 4-6-1 in league play.

Kennedy's goal in the first minute held up as the game-winner, while the Big Red also got goals from Riley Nash and Patrick Kennedy. Evan Barlow and Tyler Roeszler both added an assist on the night, while Scrivens stopped 22 shots for the victory. Rensselaer goaltender Mathias Lange stopped 16 shots in taking the loss, his 11th of the season.

Cornell would finish the night 1-for-4 on the power play with nine shots, while Rensselaer was 0-for-5  with five cracks at the goal.

Michael Kennedy got the Big Red on the board just 37 seconds into the game, the first time this season the Big Red scored in the opening 60 seconds. Picking up a loose puck in the Rensselaer end at the hash marks and along the boards, Kennedy skated in toward the Rensselaer goal and back-handed a shot that snuck through the legs of Lange and just trickled across the goal line before the goal was knocked out of position. Referee Pete Torgerson was stationed on the goal line and immediately signaled the goal.

Rensselaer got the game's first power play on a hook by Riley Nash with 16:20 to play in the first period, but the Cornell penalty killers held the Engineers without a shot on the man advantage before returning to full strength.

A five-minute major for boarding on Rensselaer's Chase Polacek gave the Big Red an extended power play, but the Engineers successfully kept the Big Red at bay for the full five minutes, with Lange turning away four Cornell shots during the man advantage, and the period would go on to an end without further incident, though it would be a harbinger of things to come.

A tripping call on Polacek gave the Big Red another power play, and this time, the Big Red did not waste the opportunity. Barlow took a diagonal feed from Greening and ripped low shot toward the goal that was redirected off the stick of Riley Nash and over the shoulder of Lange.

A hooking call on Taylor Davenport gave the Engineers another power play, and with the exception of a flurry in front of the Cornell goal that saw Scrivens laying on his side, the Big Red successfully ended that RPI threat.

With 3:53 to play in the second period, shortly after killing off the penalty on Davenport, Cornell was whistled for offiside, and Blake Gallagher got sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Gallagher also received a 10-minute misconduct on the play, much to the dismay of the Cornell bench, though Cornell was able to end the two-minute penalty without incident.

With 7:02 to go in the game, Cornell made it 3-0 on Patrick Kennedy's third goal of the season. Michael Kennedy started the play by winning the puck behind the RPI goal and chipping the puck loose to Tyler Roeszler. Roeszler circled behind the goal and found Kennedy wide open between the circles, and his snap shot rang off the center support post after beating Lange to the blocker side.

Late in the third period, Rensselaer's Jordan Watts was called for goaltender interference after colliding with Scrivens with the puck in the corner. On the ensuing power play, Taylor Davenport ripped a shot with time running down in the game and took a shot from Erik Burgdoerfer and crumpled to the ice in a heap as time expired. The players on the ice got into a shoving match that was quickly ended by the four officials, who instructed both teams to exit the ice without the customary post-game handshake line. Burgdoerfer received a five-minute major for boarding and a game disqualification, with RPI's Peter Merth also receiving a two-minute penalty for cross-checking in the ensuing scuffle. Davenport, who remained on the ice for several minutes, skated off the ice with the assistance of a pair of teammates.

Cornell returns home next weekend for a pair of Ivy League and ECAC Hockey games, taking on Yale and Brown at Lynah Rink. The Big Red opens play against the Bulldogs on Friday night at 7 p.m. before battling the Bears on Saturday with the same start time.