Freshman goaltender Eric Hayton had the busiest night for a Saint goaltender since January of 2012, but couldn't steal at least a tie with nationally fourth-ranked Ferris State as sophomore wing Chad McDonald scored his third goal of the season 1:39 into overtime to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 win in the Saints home opener at Appleton Arena Friday night.

McDonald's goal came just after the Saints had killed off a Ferris State power play which had carried over into the extra period from the third. St. Lawrence could not get the puck out of its zone and McDonald took a feed from defenseman Brandon Anselmi, cut in front and scored his third of the year and the game winner to bump the Bulldogs to 2-0-0 on the young season

The Saints 1-2-0, got a huge game from Hayton, who made 44 saves, and the Saints were able to stay with the Bulldogs in a game which was end-to-end from start to finish. Hayton's night was the busiest for a Saint goaltender since Matt Weninger made 46 saves in a 4-3 loss at Clarkson in January of 2012. And while the shot count was 47-24 in Ferris State's favor, the game was actually a lot closer than that in terms of territorial advantage and being played at a fast pace.

SLU grabbed the early lead as junior center Brian Ward scored his first of the season on a shot which eluded the glove of Ferris State goalie C.J. Motte just 55 seconds into play. Sophomore Drew Smolcynski picked up his fifth assist of the season on the play and the goal held up well into the second period as Hayton made 19 of his 44 saves in the first period.

The Bulldogs tied the game at 13:24 of the second when sophomore Gerald Mayhew put back a rebound after an initial save by Hayton. Ferris State, which had an extended five-on-three power play late in the first period, but came up empty, killed off 1:48 of Saint two man advantage late in the second to keep it a 1-1 game after two.

Ferris State grabbed the lead 9:31 into the third period when Matt Robertson took a shot on the fly on a Bulldog rush and the puck glanced off Hayton's blocker and snuck inside the far post, but Saint junior Tommy Thompson tied it again at 14:19 when he took a rebound of a shot by defenseman Ben Masella and put it back past Motte for his first of the year. Ward also assisted on Thompson's goal.

The two teams will play a rematch Saturday at 7 p.m.