USAFA, Colo. – Air Force scored three goals in a six minute span in the 2^nd period, which was the catalyst in its 4-0 win over Bentley in game one of the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals on Friday night.

Bentley had gotten the better of the 1^st period, as they limited Air Force to just three shots and created several good scoring chances. But Air Force opened the 2^nd period with three goals on its way to the 4-0 win and a 1-0 series lead.

In the latter half of the first period, Bentley had two good scoring chances. The first came on a two-on-one rush into the offensive zone with Ryner Gorowsky (Lino Lakes, Minn./Fairbanks) and Max French (West Kelowna, B.C./West Kelowna), that had Gorowsky feed French down the right side, only for French's shot to be denied by Air Force goalie Shane Starrett.

A few minutes later, a shot from the blue line by defenseman Alexey Solovyev (Moscow, Russia/Lone Star) was saved by Starrett, but the rebound kicked loose to Drew Callin (Middleton, Wisc./Janesville). Starrett was on the ice scrambling for the puck, but was still able to come up with the save.

In the 2^nd period, Air Force got the game's first goal from defenseman Phil Boje at the 3:12 mark with a slap shot from the left point that got through traffic in front of the net. Five minutes then passed, but Air Force struck for two goals in a 35 second span from center Evan Feno and defenseman Dan Bailey to take a 3-0 lead.

In the closing minutes of the period, Bentley put a flurry of shots on Starrett, which included an apparent goal from Jake Kauppila (Gurnee, Ill./Trail) with 11 seconds left, but the goal was overturned after a review.

Air Force would add a 4^th goal with 2:54 remaining in the 3^rd period, an empty-net goal by Matt Koch, to provide the final margin.

The Falcons, now down 0-1 in the series, need to win tomorrow night's game two to force a decisive third game for the second straight series. Game two will get underway at 9:05 eastern.