Bishop Guertin boys hockey holds off Londonderry comeback to pick up win

HOOKSETT – The Bishop Guertin High School boys hockey team nearly squandered a four-goal lead Monday night at Tri-Town Ice Arena. The Cardinals overcame the seven penalties they took in the third period and weathered a Londonderry rally attempt to escape with a 5-4 victory.

Ryan Flynn built a 5-1 Bishop Guertin lead 40 seconds into the final period when he scored a power-play goal from the left circle. Flynn’s tally came during one of the few times his team had five skaters on the ice in the frame.

The Cardinals (10-4-2) spent almost the entire third period on the penalty kill and Londonderry made them pay more often than not for those mistakes.

All three of the Lancers’ third-period goals came on the power play. Two were scored during five-on-three advantages.

“You let a team get right back into it, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself,” Cardinals coach Gary Bishop said.

Londonderry senior captain Troy Muldoon scored his second goal of the game during a five-on-three advantage 2:40 into the third to cut Bishop Guertin’s lead to 5-2. Classmate Merrill Neiman put home a rebound goal on a Lancers power play at the 5:45 mark to bring Londonderry within two.

Patrick Murphy redirected a Danny Bears shot past Bishop Guertin goaltender Jacob Perrin (18 saves) with 6:03 remaining to cap the Lancers’ scoring.

Londonderry (10-6) had a 51-second power play with 2:34 left but could not tally the equalizer.

“They showed a lot of heart coming out in the third period,” Lancers assistant coach Paul Bears said of his players. “I think they forced a lot of those penalties with their skating, their speed. … Everybody came together and they really wanted it. I think we just ran out of time.”

Londonderry head coach Peter Bedford was not at the game.

The Cardinals erupted for four goals, including two from senior Jordan Caito, in the second period to take a 4-1 advantage into the second intermission.

Caito scored through traffic 3:18 into the middle stanza to tie the game at 1-1 and logged the go-ahead goal with 6:24 left in the period during four-on-four play.

Daniel Israel poked the puck by Lancers senior goaltender Cody Baldwin (19 saves) from the crease with 2:58 left in the second period to build a 3-1 Bishop Guertin advantage.

Cam Fagan capped the Cardinals’ second-period scoring with his five-on-three power-play goal with 12.3 seconds left in the stanza. The junior defenseman went top shelf on Baldwin from the high slot.

“The second period was great,” Bishop said. “I figured, hey, let’s just go out, put the pedal to the metal and do the same thing in the third. Needless to say, none of that happened.”

The Lancers took four penalties in the second period. They opened the game’s scoring while a man down. Muldoon forced a Cardinals turnover and scored a shorthanded goal from the left circle 1:55 into the second period to give his team a short-lived 1-0 lead.

It was a scoreless deadlock after the opening period despite both teams having two power-play opportunities in the frame. The Cardinals outshot Londonderry, 6-4, over the first 15 minutes.

Despite his frustrations with his team’s third-period performance, Bishop was elated to get the win Monday night.

“At this point in time, every win matters as far as (playoff) seedings,” Bishop said. “We got the win. That’s what we needed.”