Lamoureux unloads on Canisius, again

Air Force captain Jacques Lamoureux was a thorn in the side of Canisius for the second consecutive night Saturday.

The senior center scored two goals in the first 4 minutes of the third period to break a 1-1 tie and lead the Falcons to a 3-2 victory.

Air Force (11-9-5, 9-5-5 Atlantic Hockey Association) scored four of its seven goals in the two-game weekend series on the power play, three coming off the stick of Lamoureux.

Canisius (8-12-6, 7-7-5) cut the lead to one with 7:22 remaining while skating with a 5-on-3 advantage, as Cory Conacher found the net off a pass from Kyle Gibbons. But Air Force goalie Jason Torf made 14 of his 32 saves in the third period to seal the victory, including a number of stellar saves down the stretch.

Two Canisius penalties in the closing seconds of the second period put the Griffs in a 5-on-3 hole to start the third, and Air Force made the most of it.

Lamoureux scorched a shot off a pass from Scott Mathis past Canisius goalie Tony Capobianco 1 second after the Falcons’ 5-on-3 advantage expired, and then deposited another Mathis pass 1:56 later while the Falcons were on a power play.

“All I can say is I’ve been on the receiving end of some great passes,” said Lamoureux, Air Force’s all-time leader in power-play goals with 36. “We were competitively patient all night, and we finally got our opportunity on the power play and made the most of it.”

Air Force is now 9-3-5 in its past 16 games, beginning with a win over current No. 1 Yale on Nov. 14.

“If you’re going to be successful down the stretch, it’s going to be special teams and goaltending,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “They played very defensive and didn’t allow us any second shots. The game had a playoff feel to it.”

The Falcons wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, taking a 1-0 lead just 2:18 into the game on a rocket from Mathis from just inside the blue line. Canisius responded less than 2 minutes later while on a power play, with Taylor Law taking an errant ricochet off the stick of Air Force’s Mathis and putting it past Torf.