BOSTON, Mass. – Junior forward Mike Paglino (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) provided the late game heroics for the Wentworth hockey team as his goal with 43.8 seconds left tied the score at 2-all and enabled the Leopards to earn their second straight tie – both by 2-2 scores - against Plymouth State in a non-conference contest played at Matthews Arena.
The host Leopards, who tied a program record with their fourth tie of the season, broke the ice first when Paglino and freshman forward Cory Lillie (East Hampton, N.Y.) set up freshman forward Andrew Yarber (Livonia, Mich.), who buried a shot inside the near post. Wentworth would outshoot Plymouth State by a 12-9 margin over the first 20:00 of action, with half of its shots coming on three power play chances.
With 5:57 left in the second period, the Panthers knotted the score at 1-all when junior forward Brian Kriner (Newport, R.I.) and sophomore forward Alex Cottle (West Chester, Pa.) set up sophomore forward Kyle Greco for a power play goal.
Greco added his second marker of the contest – and eighth of the season – at 9:22 of the third period when he capitalized on a Wentworth turnover in front of the net and buried the shot to the left side. The Leopards applied pressure, but Plymouth State sophomore netminder Jack Astedt (Angelholm, Sweden) would deny Wentworth's attempts to tie the game.
At the 18:53 mark, freshman goalie Chris Azzano (Oshawa, Ont.) was pulled for an extra Leopard attacker. The move would pay off when freshman forward Matthew Dozois (Manotick, Ont.) found Paglino who put a shot home from in front of the crease.
In overtime the Leopards went on the power play at the 1:26 mark, but could not knock home the game winner, despite putting three shots on net and having another three go wide. Plymouth State had a man advantage for the final 16.9 seconds of the extra frame and put a pair of shots on goal, but could not convert.
Azzano made 28 saves for the Leopards, while Astedt turned back 27 shots for the Panthers. Plymouth State, which was outshot, 4-2, in overtime, held a 30-29 shot advantage.
Wentworth stands at 6-5-4 and hosts 11th-ranked Utica on Sunday at 5:45 p.m. Unbeaten in its last 10 (6-0-4), Plymouth State is at Worcester State Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
