ITHACA, N.Y. – Jeff Malott scored twice and the Cornell men's hockey team climbed out of an early two-goal hole and took control, but Todd Burgess scored with 51.3 seconds left in overtime to lift Rensselaer to a stunning 3-2 victory over the Big Red on Friday night at Lynah Rink.
 
A failed clear along the wall in the Cornell zone allowed Burgess to scoop up the puck near the left point and skate into the middle. With Big Red defenders converging to shut down the angle by the time Burgess got to the slot, he took a shot that hit one of the defenders and sailed past the catching glove of helpless Matthew Galajda.
 
"It just feels like every puck sent toward our goal right now is a threat," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell. "Hockey can be a cruel game sometimes."
 
The end result didn't look likely given the full body of the night's work – but it seemed apropos after a rare lackluster first period for Cornell (15-8-3, 11-5-2 ECAC Hockey). RPI (10-18-3, 7-10-2) became just the second team this season to take a 2-0 lead on the Big Red in the opening 20 minutes following goals from Brady Wiffen and Nick Bowman.
 
But it took the Big Red just 30 seconds to respond on Malott's first goal, and Cornell began to take over the game territorially. A whopping 34 of the game's final 41 shots on goal came from the Big Red – though there were still moments of intrigue around Cornell's net. Galajda made a save on Ottoville Leppänen's partial break 2:13 into the second period, then the Big Red caught a break wiith less than three minutes left in the middle frame when Jakub Lacka's apparent goal was disallowed after a lengthy video review due to goaltender interference.
 
Malott tied the game at he 6:39 mark of the third period on a clean shot from the left circle after Mitch Vanderlaan kept the offensive zone with some nifty work before the set-up pass. The assist smarked Vanderlaan's 90th collegiate point.
 
From there forth, Cornell seemed primed to find a winner. One dramatic possibility came when Brendan Smith had a shot from the high slot in the waning seconds of regulation time, only to have RPI's Owen Savory make a save as traffic converged. A turnover by the Engineers at their own blue line with 1:45 to play in overtime led to a quick three-on-rush for Cornell, but Savory was able to glove a shot from the left circle by Morgan Barron.
 
"We won every single statistical category tonight, except for the one that matters – which is winning," Schafer said.
 
That set the stage for the unlikely winner against suddenly-reeling Cornell, which is now winless in three straight for the first time since an 0-2-1 start to the 2016-17 season. The loss allowed Quinnipiac (26 points) to move into first place in the crowded upper half of the ECAC Hockey standings, one point ahead of Cornell (25). Harvard (24) rallied to beat Brown on Friday and take sole possession of third place, and a Clarkson tie and Yale loss leaves those teams tied for fourth with 23 points. All league teams have three games remaining in the regular season.
 
Cornell will play its final home game of the regular season at 7 p.m. Saturday, when it hosts Union on its annual Senior Night.
 

The Big Red's Lineup:



How The Goals Were Scored:

RPI's 1st Goal
1st period, 5:00  •  Wiffen 8 (Samec, Gornall)  •  RPI 1, Cornell 0
• After a failed pass between Cornell defensemen allowed the Engineers to keep the offensive zone, the visitors kept possession along the walls. Wiffen emerged toward the bottom of the left circle while his defender lost his stick in the corner. After feeding Samec for a shot from the left point, Wiffen cut to the middle and got free from his stickless defender to deflect a shot past Galajda.
 
RPI's 2nd Goal
1st period, 12:20  •  Bowman 3 (Reilly, Linden)  •  RPI 2, Cornell 0
• A Big Red turnover in the neutral zone allowed the Engineers to enter the Cornell zone on a three-on-two, but little more came of it than Leppänen backhand from an extreme angle to Galajda's left. But RPI won the battle to regain possession on the end wall, and Ture Linden turned the puck up the wall to Will Reilly. He laid a pass into the slot for Bowman, who blasted a one-timer past Galajda's blocker.
 
Cornell's 1st Goal
1st period, 12:50  •  Malott 4 (Starrett, Bauld)  •  RPI 2, Cornell 1
• The Big Red broke the puck out of its zone on the right side, with Beau Starrett flipping a pass to Noah Bauld in the neutral zone. He brought the puck to his stick and started to speed up the left side and around his defender on his off wing. From the bottom of the circle, he backhanded a pass toward the crease, where the puck deflected off the heel of Starrett's stick and back into the slot for Malott to quickly cash in under Savory's glove.
 
Cornell's 2nd Goal
3rd period, 6:39  •  Malott 5 (Vanderlaan, Kaldis)  •  Cornell 2, RPI 2
• Kaldis used multiple cutbacks on the left side to keep Cornell in possession in the RPI zone, but the play looked like it was broken up as it came toward the point. Vanderlaan reached out to keep the puck in the zone, then stick-handled around a defender before making a picturesque pass to Malott in the left circle. He picked a spot and rifled a shot over Savory's blocker, high to the short side.
 
RPI's 3rd Goal
Overtime, 4:08.7  •  Burgess 7 (Zieky)  •  RPI 3, Cornell 2 (OT)
• A Cornell defenseman attempted to play the puck up the wall, but it hit Zieky's stick and allowed Burgess to scoop up the puck near the left point and skate into the middle. With Big Red defenders converging to shut down the angle by the time Burgess got to the slot, he took a shot that hit one of the defenders and sailed past the catching glove of helpless Galajda.