The Jumbos (3-2-1) struck first, but the Ephs (3-2) responded with four unanswered goals that propelled them to a 5-3 win, putting them over .500 for the first time this season.
There was no shortage of goals, hits, or penalties on Friday night, as both teams played with high energy after a week off from action. The game seesawed back and forth until the second period, when two quick goals put the Ephs on top 3-2 after trailing by a goal.
Williams never looked back after taking the lead, scoring two more goals in the third period to clinch the victory. Leading the scoring attack for the Ephs were forwards Nick Anderson '14 and John Wickman '13, who each tallied three assists on the night.
Defenseman Zander Masucci '16 added a goal and an assist of his own, while seven other Ephs recorded a point on the night.
The Jumbos proved their mettle early on in the contest, scoring just four minutes into action. The goal was set up by forward Kyle Gallegos, who found defenseman Blake Edwards with a neat drop-back pass at the left circle. Edwards fired a wrist shot that snuck by the left pad of Eph goaltender Sean Dougherty '15 to give Tufts the early 1-0 advantage.
After the Jumbos' early strike, the Ephs responded with a number of quality scoring chances. The best chance came from defenseman Paul Steinig '14, who found himself wide open after a nice pass from David Jarrett '15. Steinig ripped a shot from ten feet away, but it was handled capably by Tufts goalie Brian Phillips to keep the score at 1-0.
Williams' offensive pressure finally paid off late in the first period when Masucci got the Ephs on the board. With under three minutes to go, Anderson battled to win a puck behind the net and found Masucci at the top of the offensive zone. Masucci snapped a wrist shot that deflected off a Jumbo defender and into the net, knotting the score at 1-1 heading into the first intermission.
The Jumbos wasted little time in responding, taking back the lead just four minutes into the second frame. Corralling the puck in the right corner of the offensive zone, Tufts defenseman Jared Barker fluttered a wrist shot toward the direction of the goal that snuck over Dougherty's left shoulder to give the Jumbos a 2-1 advantage.
Once again, however, the Ephs fought back, this time scoring two straight goals to take their first lead of the night. The game-tying goal came with 14 minutes remaining the period off a Williams two-man rush. Anderson brought the puck into the offensive zone and found Mike Brofft '13 on a backhand attempt that went wide, but Steinig corralled the rebound attempt and found Alex DeBaere '15 in front of the net. DeBaere poked the puck by Phillips to tie the score at 2-2.
Just two minutes later, the Ephs took advantage of a Tufts penalty to take a 3-2 lead. Wickman won the penalty-starting face-off back to Masucci, who swung the puck over to Jarrett at the blue line. Jarrett steadied the puck and placed a sharp wrist shot just underneath the left corner pipe to put Williams ahead for good with 11 minutes to go.
The Jumbos almost tied the score with two minutes remaining off a rebound attempt, but Brofft made a nice defensive effort to swipe the puck away and keep the Ephs on top heading into the final frame.
The final period featured more offense for the Ephs, but not after an emergency defensive effort from backup goaltender Noah Klag. When Dougherty was forced to leave the ice with an equipment malfunction just two minutes into action, Klag entered the game and made a nice save to stop the puck just before it crossed the goal line.
"He made a big save," noted head coach Bill Kangas after the game. "It was a battle in front of the net, they went to that hard and he won the battle. We needed him to step in, and he did a really good job."
Spurred by Klag's efforts, the Ephs added to their lead a minute later when Eric Rubino '13 took a pass from Wickman in front of the net and calmly deposited a wrist shot into the right side of the net to increase the lead to 4-2.
At the 16-minute mark, the Ephs extended their lead to 5-2 on a power play goal from Evan Dugdale '13, who fired a sharp wrist shot into the left side of the net off a nice feed from Wickman.
The Jumbos narrowed the deficit to 5-3 two minutes later on a goal from forward Luke Griffin, but it would prove to be too little too late as the Ephs held off the Tufts attack in the final ten minutes to seal the victory.
The Ephs finished with a solid 41 shots on the night, 36 of which were stopped by Tufts goalie Brian Phillips. For Williams, Klag made one save in 2:17 of emergency action while Dougherty made 24 saves in 57:43 minutes of play.
"I thought we played pretty well," added Kangas. "There was a stretch during the third period where we got some hockey bounces, and that was obviously a big turning point."
"Any time you get two points, it's [good]. It's difficult to get points in this league."
The Ephs will look to pick up two more points in the league standings on Saturday afternoon when they take on Connecticut College. The Camels enter the game with a 1-2-1 record after battling Middlebury to a tie on Friday night. Game time is 3 pm.
