Sophomore Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) came through with the game-winning goal midway through the third period as the Clarkson University Hockey team opened up a four-game home stand with a hard fought 3-2 victory over Princeton in ECAC Hockey action before 2,191 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.

The Golden Knights, who have gone 5-2-1 in conference play during the New Year, improved their record to 8-6-3 in ECAC Hockey and to 14-12-5 overall. Clarkson, which holds fifth place in the league standings, one-point behind Harvard, host Quinnipiac on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

McPherson, who broke out of a lengthy scoring drought with a goal at Yale last Saturday, took a pass in the slot from sophomore linemate Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT) and buried his eighth goal of the season at 8:04 of the third period for the game-winner, putting an end to Princeton’s four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2). Sexton, who recorded two assists in the win has a four-game point-scoring streak with seven assists during that span. Freshman Patrick Marsh (Oakville, ONT) also assisted to extend his point-scoring streak to three games.

Audio McPherson's GWG Goal

The Knights twice overcame one-goal deficits to force a 2-2 tie through 40 minutes.

Princeton (7-11-6, 5-9-3) took advantage of early Clarkson penalty trouble to take the early lead.

With four seconds left in a 5-on-3 advantage Princeton defenseman Michael Sdao fired in a power-play blast from the blueline to give the Tigers the initial lead at 10:01 of the first. Andrew Calof and Derrick Pallis earned the assists.

Clarkson’s top two scorers teamed up to tie the game late in the stanza. Grad student Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) stole the puck at the top of the left circle in the Princeton zone and fed a pass to senior linemate Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT), who connected at the side of the net at 16:01 for his 12th goal of the season.

In a wide open second period, which saw each team skate on three power plays, the Knights and Tigers both scored to make it a 2-2 contest through 40 minutes. Princeton regained the lead at 3:36 of the middle frame with a goal by Kevin Ross on a shot from the top of the right circle that found its way through traffic past Karpowich, who was playing with a forward’s stick after losing his during a scrum in front.

Once again, however, Clarkson came back to tie with a power-play marker from freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, QUE). At 5:23, Labrecque one-timed a pass from Sexton, scoring from the point for his fourth goal of the year. Oakley also set up the goal for his team-high 17th assist of the season.

Clarkson outshot the Tigers 28-26. Senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) posted 24 saves, including 13 in the third period, as the Knights snapped a two-game losing skid in the series.

Clarkson went 1-of-5 on the power play and after allowing the Tigers to score the opening goal on a two-man advantage, killed off six straight Princeton power plays.