'Saders pushed from playoffs; Niagara finds Game 3 offense.

Byline: Shaun Suhoski

WORCESTER -- Through two opening-round games between Holy Cross and Niagara, covering eight and a half periods of hockey, goals were a rare commodity as netminders Jackson Teichroeb and Matt Ginn combined to stop 167 of 173 shots on goal.

But Sunday night in a jammed Hart Center, the puck had eyes as the teams combined for eight goals with Niagara (7-26-4) prevailing, 5-3, to advance to an Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series at Robert Morris.

The game featured two teams fully engaged in their tasks -- skating, hitting, shooting and looking to advance in the playoffs.

"Certainly, it's not the outcome we wanted. I felt our team really battled, and competed, and gave the effort,'' Holy Cross coach Dave Berard said. "Unfortunately, we gave them three power-play goals and that put us behind the eight-ball.''

With the match tied 3-3 early in the third period, Chris Lochner scored the winner on a power play, jamming the puck home at the stick-side post after Vince Muto intentionally caromed a shot from the right point off the end boards.

Holy Cross, which finished the season at 14-18-5, looked to respond moments later, but Teichroeb (47 saves) made a jaw-dropping stop, diving across the crease to snare Nilan Nagy's laser as he walked in from below the right circle.

"Hats off to their goalie,'' said Berard, who played goal for Providence College. "He played outstanding and made some unbelievable saves. Unfortunately we didn't bury (our shots) and it led to a disappointing loss.''

The visitors sealed the game on Hugo Turcotte's empty-netter with 50 seconds remaining. After a bevy of shots on Teichroeb in the waning moments led to a long rebound, the winger hustled up ice to close out the scoring.

Niagara worked the puck into the Crusader zone just 3:48 into the game. The puck skittered to the left point where Lawrence Smith flipped the puck toward the net, the slow-motion knuckler eluding Ginn (21 saves) and stunning the arena into silence.

"When that goal went in it really deflated us,'' said Berard, in his first year at Holy Cross. "It was just thrown to the net and found its way through a bunch of legs and bodies and Ginn didn't see it. And, I've been...