Charlottetown, PE - The StFX X-Men hung on for a 5-4 overtime victory, after an unlikely third period rally by the UPEI Panthers forced the game into overtime.
The Panthers scored four unanswered goals in the third period, including the game-tying goal with only two seconds remaining, but the X-Men stifled the comeback and came away with the win as Cory MacIntosh scored at 6:32 in the extra frame.
The X-Men opened the scoring in the first period when Eric Locke chipped the puck over Matt Mahalak's right shoulder at 10:17, scoring an unassisted marker.
The Panthers were unable to find the back of the net against a steady performance by netminder Drew Owsley, despite outshooting their opponents 12-4 in the opening period.
Midway through the second, the X-Men put plenty of pressure on UPEI's defence and the results followed. Within a nine minute span, StFX added three unanswered goals for a commanding 4-0 lead.
MacIntosh wristed his third goal of the season after breaking free to his left and beating Mahalak at 11:44 with assists coming from Zack MacQueen and Craig Duininck.
Three minutes later, Blake Gal scored for the X-Men, with helpers from Jagger Dirk and Brad Cuzner. Duininck then capped off the scoring in the second period with a marker at 18:47 from Holden Cook and Nathan Pancel.
The X-Men outshot the Panthers 14-5 in the middle period, taking a confident 4-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.
But instead of hanging their heads in disappointment, the Panthers fired back in the final period.
Just nine seconds into the third period, UPEI captain Mason Wilgosh, along with Marcus Power, assisted on a Brent Andrews goal to get the Panthers on the board.
Five minutes later, Andrews scored his eleventh goal of the season and second of the game, on a power play, again from Power and Wilgosh, trimming the deficit in half. At 7:59, Beni Berisha scored the third Panthers goal of the evening with assists from Craig MacLaughlan and Nick Parker.
Defenseman Ryan MacKinnon completed the Panthers comeback, scoring the game-tying goal off a crucial faceoff win in X-Men territory with only two seconds left on the clock and the extra attacker on the ice. Wilgosh and Andrews each picked up their third points of the evening with the assists as the Panthers held a 12-6 third period shot advantage over the X-Men.
But the UPEI magic ran out in overtime when MacIntosh tallied his second goal of the game, off an assist by MacQueen, capturing the 5-4 win for the X-Men.
Owsley made 27 saves in the X-Men net as shots ended 32-31 in favor of the visitors.
Mavric Parks, in relief of Mahalak in the third period and overtime frame, was tagged with the loss for the Panthers. He had 10 saves while Mahalak turned aside 14 shots.
The Panthers (8-6-2) play again Saturday when they'll host the Dalhousie Tigers (4-10-2) at 7 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre.
The X-Men (12-2-2) travel to Fredericton to take on the UNB Varsity Reds (11-3-2), also on Saturday at 7:00 pm.
Contributions from Thomas Becker, UPEI Communications