WATERTOWN, Mass. – A third period goal by Bentley's Matt Maher (Avon, Conn./Westside Warriors) with eight minutes to play tied the score at two, and that's the way the game ended between the Falcons and Niagara Saturday night despite a penalty shot attempt by Brett Gensler (St. Charles, Mo./Youngstown Phantoms) in the final seconds of regulation.

With the game looking like it was heading to overtime, Bentley's Justin Breton (Fitchburg, Mass./Boston Jr. Bruins) was hauled down as he drove in on net with just 1.2 seconds left and the referees awarded Bentley a rare penalty shot. Gensler was chosen to take it, only for his backhander to go wide left of goalie Chris Noonan to send the game into overtime.

Niagara was also assessed a minor penalty on the play, giving the Falcons a near a full power play to start overtime, but they could not convert despite some good opportunities. Bentley owned a 5-1 advantage in shots in the extra session.

The Falcons jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 61 seconds in on senior Mike Switzer's (Calgary, Alberta/Olds Grizzlys) second goal of the series on a drive from the point that beat Noonan.

The score remained 1-0 the rest of the first period and into the second until Isaac Kohls got Niagara on the scoreboard at 7:32. Less than four minutes later they scored again, with Jeff Hannan netting his second of the series at 11:06.

Niagara kept its 2-1 into the third period until Maher equalized with a shot from the right face-off circle with Gensler on the assist.

Sophomore goalie Branden Komm (Williamsville, N.Y./Northfield Mount Hermon) was back as the starter for Bentley and made 31 saves. His counterpart Noonan stopped 36 shots.

The tie means the Falcons' record moves to 4-8-3 overall and 4-3-2 in Atlantic Hockey, and the Purple Eagles go to 4-5-5 and 3-4-2.

Bentley plays its final game before the semester break on Friday night at UConn. Face-off is set for 7:05 p.m.