SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – AIC won the first game of this weekend's home and home series with Bentley 3-0 on Thursday night at the MassMutual Center.

Shots were even 30-30 but AIC's Nils Wallstrom made each save for the Yellow Jackets. Bentley's Connor Hasley made 27 stops.

AIC took a 1-0 lead at 15:31 of the 1^st period with a goal by Brett Rylance with a shot to the short side from the left faceoff circle.

Bentley had an 11-8 edge in shots in the opening period. They nearly tied it late in the frame after an AIC turnover in Bentley's offensive zone led to a high quality scoring chance for Sam Duerr, but his shot was blocked with a last ditch effort by an AIC defenseman.

Neither team scored in the second period to send the game still 1-0 going into the third.

The Yellow Jackets to a 2-0 lead at 7:15 on a goal by Timofei Khokhlachev and made it 3-0 on a tally by Evan Stella.

Neither team was able to get it going on the power play as they combined to go 0-7.

The series shifts to Bentley Arena for Friday's game at 7:05 PM.