Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan hockey team fell to Lake Superior State, 6-3, in the first game of a best-of-three series at Lawson Ice Arena on Friday night.
Nathan Perkovich scored his first of two goals on the night just 3:47 into the game. Perkovich fired the puck towards the net from the left circle and it deflected off of Bronco defenseman Chris Frank and into the net.
Troy Schwab and Matt Cowie would each add goals during the period to bury WMU with a quick 3-0 deficit.
The Lakers pushed the lead to 4-0 just 27 seconds into the period. Fred Cassiani tipped in a rebound on a shot by Sim and got it passed WMU goaltender Riley Gill. Lake Superior made it 5-0 2:07 later with Brad Cooper tallying his third on the season.
The Broncos got on the board at the 4:08 mark to make it 5-1. Mike Levendusky picked the puck at the Bronco blue line and passed it off to junior center Jared Katz. Katz weaved his way through traffic before finding J.J. Crew, who went top-shelf on LSSU goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson for his fifth goal of the season.
Perkovich tallied his second of the night on the power play at 10:32 in the second period to score the Lakers' final goal of the night and make it 6-1.
Coming out of the third period Western Michigan tallied a goal at the 1:54 point. Kevin Connauton wristed in a rebound off a shot by Max Campbell for his fifth goal of the season to cut the lead, 6-2. Campbell notched his 13th assist on the night and Patrick Galivan picked up his team-leading 26th helper.
With 12:01 remaining in the third period Western Michigan put up its third and final goal of the night. After some crafty passing behind the net between Campbell and Greg Squires, it was Squires who got the puck to Galivan in the slot and buried his 18th of the season. Campbell picked up his 14th assist and Squires registered his 20th.
The goal stretched Galivan's goal-scoring streak to eight games, tallying 10 goals. He also pushed his point scoring streak to 13 games, scoring 27 points during the streak.
Western Michigan also extended its power play goal scoring streak to 12 games.
The Broncos are in a must win situation in Saturday evening's game, needed a win to stay alive and force a game three. The two teams will battle at 7:35 p.m. with the game broadcast by Comcast.
