PRINCETON, NJ - The Tigers are moving on! One week removed from a 4-3 loss to the same RPI team on the same Hobey Baker Rink ice, Princeton rallied from an early deficit to flip the script and eliminate the Engineers from the ECAC Playoffs with a 3-2 win in the Opening Round.
A pair of Princeton rookies making their postseason debuts needed no time to acclimate to playoff hockey as Mackenzie Alexander (1g, 2a) and Rosie Klein (1g, 1a) each had multi-point games to pace the Tigers.
Issy Wunder also had a multi-point game with a goal and an assist.
Jen Olnowich made 22 saves in goal, including eight in the third period.
With the win, Princeton moves on to the quarterfinals February 28-March 2 against a team to be determined after the remainder of this weekend's First Round contests.
The Engineers struck first with a power-play goal off the stick of Aylah Cioffi. She fired just under the crossbar 11:56 into the first period to break the ice.
Mackenzie Alexander tied things up with 15.3 seconds to play in the opening period, spinning into a shot from the slot that found its way inside the right post off assists from Rosie Klein and Issy Wunder.
The Tigers were dominant in the second period in terms of possession, working their way to a 23-12 advantage in shot attempts in the period. It was the 14th shot of the period – and fifth to reach target – that finally found twine when Wunder one-timed in an Alexander pass with 5:12 remaining in the period. Emerson O'Leary initiated the scoring sequence when she picked off an Engineers breakout attempt and sent Alexander and Wunder in on 2-on-1 where the give-and-go connected for Wunder's 25th goal of the season.
In the third period, an early big play came when Gabby Kim tied up Audrey McCutcheon at the crease when a RPI centering pass was earmarked for McCutcheon's stick and a wide-open net. Instead, Kim got stick on stick and stymied her shot attempt before it even really began and allowed Olnowich to cover with her glove.
RPI pushed back throughout the early goings of the third period, applying pressure throughout before Sophie Helgeson finally connected with a top-corner wrister off a clean faceoff win from Sabrina Beaudoin just before the midway mark of the third to tie the game 2-2.
The Tigers quickly answered with a power-play goal 1:27 later. Rosie Klein snuck into the high slot, taking an Alexander seam pass from the corner and burying it over Keating's blocker to regain a one-goal lead for the Tigers with 9:16 remaining.
Those final minutes were hectic as the Engineers hunted the equalizer. RPI sent nine shots towards goal in the final 2:31, with Olnowich turning aside two and five others blocked by Princeton players sacrificing their body to preserve the win.