Game Notes

The Matchup: Bentley and Robert Morris will square off this weekend in Pittsburgh in a best of three first round series in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs as the road to Rochester gets underway. Game one and game two are Friday and Saturday night at 7:05, and game three if necessary will be Sunday night. All games can be seen on AtlanticHockey.TV

Atlantic Hockey Playoffs: The Bentley-RMU series is the 10-7 matchup this weekend, while the other two first round series pit RIT against Sacred Heart in the 6-11 matchup, and AIC against Niagara in the 8-9 matchup. The five teams that received byes to the quarterfinals were, in order of seed, Mercyhurst, Canisius, Holy Cross, Army and Air Force. As the 4-5 matchup, Army and Air Force know they will play each other next weekend, while Mercyhurst will host the lowest remaining seed, Canisius the second lowest and Holy Cross the third lowest.

The semifinals and finals are single elimination and will take place March 16-17 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York.

Last Time Out: The Falcons closed out the regular season last Saturday night at Bentley Arena against AIC in front of a third straight sellout crowd, this time on Senior Night. However, the Falcons were tripped up 3-2 as AIC's Nick Luka scored the go-ahead goal 7:58 into the 3^rd period, and hung on late for the victory despite a 6-on-4 advantage for Bentley in the final minute.

Bentley took a 1-0 lead 3:40 into the first period on a power play goal by sophomore Jonathan Desbiens, his 11^th goal of the season. In the 2^nd period, AIC went ahead with two straight goals at the 0:29 and 10:03 marks. But late in the period, Bentley answered back with a power play goal from Kyle Schmidt with 41 seconds left in the period. The goal came after Schmidt fired home a rebound that was deflected by Luke Santerno in front of the net after a shot from the point by Desbiens.

Earlier This Season: Bentley and RMU will be meeting for at least the 5^th and 6^th times this season, after they had two series in the regular season. The Falcons swept the series at the JAR on Nov. 24-25, which began the team's six game winning streak and later, seven game unbeaten streak. The Falcons took the first game 3-1, behind a 2-4 night on the power play, and three different goal scorers. Connor Brassard and Drew Callin had PP goals in the first period to stake Bentley to a 2-0 lead. Matt Riggleman added a third period goal, and Aidan Pelino made 31 saves.

The Falcons then won the second game 6-3. After falling behind 3-2 early in the third period after an RMU goal by Michael Louria, they surged ahead with four unanswered goals. Defenseman Brett Orr scored the tying goal at the 5:00 mark. A goal by Callin at 10:58 saw Bentley take the lead as they scored three times over the final nine minutes.

The teams met again, this time in Pittsburgh, on Jan. 19-20. RMU won the first game 3-2 in overtime. Bentley led 2-1 late, but Louria scored an extra-attacker goal with 52 seconds left to send the game to OT. RMU then won it 27 seconds into OT on a goal by Alex Tonge. Brassard and Michael Zuffante had the goals for Bentley, both in the 2^nd period.

The second game saw ended in a 3-3 tie and saw three lead changes. This time it was Bentley's turn to score late after they trailed 3-2, as Santerno netted an extra-attacker goal with 1:21 left in regulation to send the game to OT.

Series Notes: Bentley and RMU are certainly familiar with each other. They've met 15 times since the 2014-15 season, including in the quarterfinals of the 2016 playoffs, where an undermanned Bentley team pushed the top-seeded Colonials to three games.

The Falcons have also gotten familiar with the trip to Pittsburgh and playing at Colonials Arena. This will be their sixth trip out there since the 2014-15 season, four times in the regular season and now twice in the playoffs.

Both Bentley goalies, Jayson Argue and Aidan Pelino, have strong career numbers against the Colonials. In six starts, Argue is 2-3-1 with a .920 save percentage and 2.65 GAA. Pelino is 3-1-1 with a .949 save percentage and 1.58 GAA.

In last season's series at RMU, Pelino posted a shutout in a 3-0 Bentley win with 28 saves, and one night later allowed just one goal in a 1-1 tie. In the sweep at the JAR earlier this season, Pelino won both games.

Up Next: If Bentley advances, they would travel to either Mercyhurst or Canisius next weekend in the quarterfinals, depending on who wins the RIT-Sacred Heart series next weekend.

Tale of the Tape