Dartmouth 4 - Clarkson 5

Potsdam, N.Y. - The Dartmouth men's hockey team's offense came to life Friday night at Cheel Arena, but it may have been at the expense of the defense. Despite scoring its most goals since late January, the Big Green and goalie Nick Boucher couldn't stop surging Clarkson, falling in a crucial late-season battle, 5-4.

Despite getting outshot nearly two-fold in the first two frames, the Big Green never fell behind until midway through the final period. After Chris Hontvet scored to hand Dartmouth a 4-3 lead, Golden Knight freshman Kevin O'Flaherty stole center stage, lighting the lamp twice in a 32-second span to spell the difference.

The Big Green outshot Clarkson, 13-10, in the final period, but couldn't answer O'Flaherty's two goals. With the win, the Golden Knights clinched home-ice in the first round of the ECAC playoffs, while the Dartmouth saw its home-ice chances slip.

Based on the results of Friday night's games, the Big Green falls to eighth in the standings, and will have to beat league-leading St. Lawrence Saturday night and hope that several pieces fall into place in order to return to Thompson Arena next weekend.

"Clarkson's a good team. They have a lot of experience," said head coach Bob Gaudet. "They expect to be there. We had our chances at 4-3 to make it 5-3, but we weren't able to put it away. I thought we had good chances. We made some good shots at the end, but we just didn't score."

Looking for its first win ever at Cheel Arena, Dartmouth nearly pulled it off in a game that was, above all, odd.

The Golden Knights outshot the Big Green, 28-12, in the first two periods, but Dartmouth had them on the ropes the whole time. Then, when the Big Green won the shooting war in the third, Clarkson finally iced the game, riding O'Flaherty's two goals to clinch home-ice.

"You never know. That's the nature of college hockey," said Clarkson defenseman Kerry Ellis-Toddington, who tallied his team's third goal. "You never know what's going to happen. It doesn't matter who outshoots who, it's just who puts the puck in the net the most times, and who makes the fewest mistakes."

After Clarkson dominated the opening minutes, scoring an early goal, the Big Green stormed back to net two goals in the final eight minutes of the first period.

Sophomore Jamie Herrington tallied the first one on a 5-on-3 power play, collecting a rebound off goalie Karl Mattson's pads before smacking his fourth of the season through the pipes. Trevor Byrne and Mike Maturo earned assists on the goal.

Minutes later, Maturo gave the Big Green a 2-1 lead on a breakaway. After Hontvet blocked an attempted Clarkson shot, Pete Summerfelt dished the puck to Maturo, who charged the net before back-handing his eighth of the season between Mattson's legs.

In the middle frame, the Big Green was thoroughly outplayed, taking just four shots to Clarkson's 18. Amazingly, however, Dartmouth came within seven seconds of entering the second intermission with a one goal lead, as Chris Baldwin answered an early Golden Knight goal with his fourth of the season.

But with seven seconds to go, Clarkson took advantage of a questionable interference call on Summerfelt, knotting the score at three when Ellis-Toddington nailed a 50-foot liner from the blueline.

Dartmouth earned its revenge early in the third period, as Hontvet slapped a Summerfelt pass into the net, but Clarkson cruised from there. On the strength of O'Flaherty's two quick goals, the Golden Knights took their first lead of the game and never looked back, notching the win despite an aggressive offensive period from the Big Green.

In net, rookie Nick Boucher made 33 saves.

"We've had a stretch of games where we're playing home-ice teams, or teams that are pretty close," Gaudet said. "We're playing the best team in the league tomorrow night. We want to win that game, play hard, and hopefully a chance at home-ice.

"Even if it doesn't happen, we want to be playing our best when it comes time for the playoffs next week."

Despite losing, Dartmouth has seen its usual offensive suspects coming to life as of late, as sophomores Maturo, Herrington and Baldwin have been contributing points. The Big Green will conclude the regular season Saturday night with a visit to St. Lawrence, which will need a win to ice down the ECAC's automatic berth to the NCAAs.

Big Green notes: Sophomores Mike Maturo, Jamie Herrington and Chris Baldwin -- Dartmouth's dangerous rookie tandem last season -- all scored. Maturo now has scored goals in two straight games, while Herrington has a four-game points scoring streak . . . . Baldwin returned to the lineup after missing four games with a minor concussion . . . . Junior Michael Byrne is out for the season after suffering a hand injury in Dartmouth's 6-2 loss to Colgate last Friday. He will be having surgery shortly . . . . Hunter (shoulder) also remains out of the lineup, though he has been practicing with the team . . . . Pete Summerfelt finished the game with three assists.