ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior forwards Jack Malone and Matt Stienburg scored goals to give the Cornell men's hockey team a two-goal lead and a heightened sense of optimism toward breaking out of its recent skid, but Colgate rallied for a pair of goals to close out the second period and ride out a 2-2 tie on Saturday night at Lynah Rink.

Adding insult to the injury of a winless stretch that has now reached five games for Cornell (13-6-4, 8-4-4 ECAC Hockey) was its fourth consecutive shootout loss — including its third over just the last four games. So while the Big Red has officially lost just twice over its last five games, that trio of shootout losses doesn't offer any respite from the dearth of victories.

"It's a challenge. I don't know else to put it," said Associate Head Coach Ben Syer, who continues to serve as the head coach while Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey, is recovering from medical procedures. "We've played well enough ... but we have opportunities and we're not getting it done. The guys, the staff, the entire program. They're all fighting tooth and nail, just trying to dig you're way out of it."

After Colgate (10-14-3, 5-7-3) won Friday's opener of the home-and-home in Hamilton, 3-2, Cornell responded early on Friday. Senior forward Brenden Locke fed classmate Liam Motley for a shot from the slot that bounced around in the slot before ending up on Malone's stick. He shoveled the puck under the crossbar for his seventh goal of the season and a 1-0 Big Red lead just 4 minutes, 6 seconds into the game.

Cornell would go on to outshoot Colgate in the opening 20 minutes, 10-5, but even the visitors' five shots were all from a considerable distance.

"(The goal) was a great start, and the first period was a great start collectively from the whole team," Malone said. "It felt good to get that first one early and nice to be able to build momentum off that."

While the Raiders came out with more traction early in the second period, it was the Big Red that ultimately struck next. Colgate's forecheckers attempted to pounce on junior defenseman Sam Malinski's stumbles trying to work the puck out of his defensive zone, but he was able to keep the play alive to set up a chance on the rush. That opportunity ended with a tic-tac-toe passing play from Locke to sophomore forward Kyle Penney, who found Stienburg open back at the opposite post for a tap-in.

The goal broke a string of 12 consecutive unsuccessful power-play opportunities for the Big Red, and it was Stienburg's 10th goal of the season.

But the extra cushion was short-lived. Colgate capitalized on its own power play less than three minutes later, then began to dictate the run of play. Instead of Cornell's trademarked measured pace of play with plenty of puck possession, the teams engaged in fire-wagon hockey that saw countless odd-man rushes and some of the hardest in any game Cornell has seen all season. It culminated in Jeff Stewart's goal from the top of the right circle with 1:58 left in the frame.

Ian Shane (22 saves) made one of his biggest saves on Josh McKechney's quick shot from the slot off a faceoff with 13:50 to play. Locke was stopped on an open look from the left circle with 2:42 on the clock, then the Big Red earned a late power play. The closest it would come to converting was on play to set up Penney's tip from the slot with 29 seconds left, but the puck sailed just wide of the far post.

After a scoreless overtime period with no stoppages of play, the Big Red fell to 0-4 in shootouts. The five-game winless skid is Cornell's longest since Jan. 15-Feb. 5, 2016, when it failed to win in a stretch of seven games.

"I think in times like this, it's easy to want to deviate from who you are or change what makes us us," said Kyle Betts, one of three senior co-captains of the Big Red. "But I think we showed early in the year that when we play together as a group, we're tough to hang with."

Cornell returns to action on the road next weekend, traveling to the Capital District to take on Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Friday and Union at 7 p.m. Saturday.