No. 18 Air Force found a way to win a tight game on the road Friday with one center tied behind its back.

The Falcons (5-1-1) opened Atlantic Hockey Conference play with a 3-1 victory over Canisius, which edged them for the AHC regular-season title last season, at Buffalo, N.Y. Billy Christopoulos made 25 saves and the Falcons dominated on  special teams to pick up points in a road game for the fifth time in six games.

“Our goalie was clearly the best player on the ice,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “We had too many nuclear mistakes that he had to clean up. To this point, he’s been our MVP.”

Matt Serratore scored for the third consecutive game, Matt Pulver scored his first goal of the season, and freshman Zack Mirageas scored his first NCAA goal for the Falcons, who lost senior center and assistant captain Tyler Ledford to injury early in the game.

Pulver scored what proved to be the winning goal late in the second period. Trevor Stone fired a shot that Daniel Urbani (33 saves) stopped, but the rebound went to Pulver. The sophomore eluded a diving defenseman and caught Urbani a bit out of position to give Air Force a 2-1 lead with 58 seconds to go in the period.

Pulver also won 10 of 16 face-offs on a night his workload increased due to Ledford’s injury.

“Pulver, Serratore and (Brady) Tomlak showed a lot of energy,” Frank Serratore said.

Matt Serratore got Air Force on the board when he gathered a rebound of Jordan Himley’s shot from the left point on a power play and fired it past Urbani. Mirageas also scored on a power play in the third period, taking a pass from Himley, who has five points in the past three games after having one in the first four.

Special teams also helped the Falcons out tremendously on a night when there were stretches they didn’t match Canisius’ intensity.

“They show a lot of energy on the offensive side of things,” Frank Serratore said. “We’ve got to match their intensity.

“We’ve got to be ready for people. We have a reputation as a good hockey team, and they’re ready to play us. Canisius came after us. We needed to send a message, and they sent one to us.”

Still, the Falcons converted two of their seven power-play opportunities, and they stopped all three chances by the Golden Griffins (1-2-1). Defenseman Phil Boje added five more blocked shots to run his nation-leading total to 24.

Stylistically it might not have been what AFA hoped for, but it got the job done, thanks in large part to special teams and goaltending.

Notable

Despite the loss of Ledford, the Falcons were stellar in the circle winning 43 of 71 face-offs (61 percent). Kyle Haak was the ringleader, winning 14 of 22. … Mirageas also had a secondary assist on Matt Serratore’s goal. … This was only the second game in seven that defenseman Matt Koch was held off the scoresheet. … Ledford’s injury, on top of Evan Feno‘s season-ending knee injury, will severely test the Falcons’ depth at center.

AFA’s three stars

1. Billy Christopoulos. Time and again he made some huge saves on breakaways and odd-man rushes to cover up some defensive miscues.
2. Matt Pulver. His second-period goal was a back breaker for Canisius, and he stepped up with strong all-around play, including on the dot.
3. Jordan Himley. The senior was around the puck much of the game and had two primary assists to run his point streak to five in three games.

Up next

The teams meet again Saturday at 5:35 MDT. The Falcons’ lineup will have at least one alteration due to Ledford’s injury.