Air Force absorbed some blows in the special teams battle Friday night, but the Falcons ultimately won the war.

The Falcons scored six consecutive goals after a first period to forget in taking a 7-4 Atlantic Hockey Conference victory over league-leading Canisius at Cadet Arena.

Six players had multi-point games for the Falcons (16-13-4, 11-11-3 AHC), who set a season high-water mark for goals and moved up into a tie for sixth place in the conference with three regular-season games to play.

More impressive than the offensive surge, however, was Air Force’s ability to recover from a 3-1 deficit in the first period that came at the expense of a usually reliable penalty kill. The Falcons had allowed just three power-play goals in their previous 13 games before the Golden Griffins (15-14-2, 15-10-0 AHC) matched that in a 7:20 stretch.

“We want to use these last four games to the team we want to be in the playoffs,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “I told the boys after that third goal, forget the score, forget the frustration, focus on the process.

“We’re down 3-1, but we can’t let the third goal become the foundation for a fourth goal and a fourth goal become the foundation for a fifth. We can’t be results oriented. We have to play every shift the way we want to.”

Added assistant captain Phil Boje, “It’s a little disheartening to start the game like that, but we knew we’d bounce back.

“Really it was just sticking to the process, getting pucks deep, working hard, not turning pucks over. We knew we had the guys, we had the skills, we had the attitude to get it done.”

Though the score didn’t reflect it, the Falcons began to assert more pressure from that point on, and the process eventually resulted in an absolutely dominant second period in which they outscored Canisius 3-0 on a 22-3 shots on goal edge to retake the lead for good.

After special teams took in the first, they gave in the second. The Falcons’ tempo and pressure resulted in the Griffins taking a string of penalties late in the first and early in the second.

Trevor Stone pulled Air Force to within one on the first power play of the period at 5:16. Evan Giesler started the sequence with a cross-ice dump-in that Tyler Ledford retrieved. Ledford found Erik Baskin down low, and Baskin walked the puck right to left and found Stone near the left dot. The sophomore snapped it past Daniel Urbani (36 saves).

The penalty kill generated the tying goal when Jordan Himley stole the puck and sped down the right wing to initiate a 2 on 1 with Matt Serratore. Himley fired a beautiful cross-slot pass that Serratore finished from the left doorstep with 8:03 to go.

“The power play finally gave us something, and that shorthanded goal was uplifting,” Frank Serratore said.

Boje then gave the Falcons the lead for good with 2:20 to play with one of his patented blasts from just inside the blue line. The Falcons maintained control after a power play, and Marshall Bowery initiated the scoring sequence when he corralled the puck in the neutral zone and sped into the offensive zone, he found Zack Mirageas, who also drew defenders before passing to a wide-open Boje. Remarkably, the goal was Boje’s first of the season after he had nine a year ago.

“We were just taking what they gave us,” Himley said. “The power play clicked a little bit. When we get the opportunity (on the penalty kill) we’re going to recognize those odd-man rushes.”

Himley, who played perhaps his best game of the season, then took over in the third, scoring off a rush 6:42 in after Mirageas found him in the neutral zone. Less than a minute later, Baskin redirected Ledford’s shot on another power play to make it 6-3 with 12:40 to go. Himley then replicated the 2 on 1 play with Serratore at even strength to make it 7-3.

“The old Himley was back, and we need him to stay back,” his coach said.

Canisius’ Nick Hutchison scored his second goal of the game – and team-leading 15th – with 2:03 to go.

Ledford buried a rebound of a Giesler shot just 22 seconds into the game. But the good vibrations didn’t last long.

The Golden Griffins responded just 3:33 later on a power play when Grant Meyer had a beautiful redirection of Matt Hoover‘s shot from the left circle.

Giesler’s 5-minute penalty for boarding just 38 seconds later temporarily opened the floodgates for the Griffins, who managed just three shots during that span but scored on two of them. Cameron Heath‘s point shot eluded Christopoulos at 8:02, then Nick Hutchison scored his team-high 14th 3:13 later when he spun off the goal line to Christopoulos’ left and fired toward the net. The puck hit Christopoulos’ stick as the goalie repositioned himself and went in.

“In previous games if that happens, we might come in and start freaking out a little bit, but it was different because everyone stayed level,” Himley said. “No one was too high, too low. We kept chipping away. We didn’t get down at all.”

Christopoulos made 19 saves, including 11 in the third period. It was the first time he and the Falcons won when allowing as many as four goals.

“Now we’ve got to come back and do it again,” Frank Serratore said. “If you’re looking at this as a playoff series, you’ve got to respond and finish it off.”

If the Falcons do that, they’ll move closer to at least a home playoffs series and perhaps a weekend off.

Power surge

Senior night came a day early as Baskin, Himley and Ledford each had a goal and two assists. Serratore had the two goals, and Mirageas and Brady Tomlak each added two assists.

The seven goals was a season high, surpassing the six the Falcons rang up against Colorado College on Dec. 29.

Notable

Junior center Kyle Haak missed his fourth consecutive game because of an upper body injury. There is a chance he could return Saturday. Haak previously missed nine games leading up to the holiday break because of a knee injury. … Sophomore forward Matt Pulver had shoulder surgery this week, the second time in two seasons he’s had a shoulder repaired. … Canisius also has battled injuries, and it was missing top-line center Ryan Schmelzer (29 points, 13 goals) and right wing Jeff Murray (17 points).

Air Force’s three stars

1. Jordan Himley. The senior showed the explosiveness and touch that made him an all-conference selection a season ago, when he had 22 goals and 37 points.
2. Matt Serratore. His shorthanded goal swung the momentum, and his second goal applied the finishing touch.
3. Erik Baskin. His pass to Trevor Stone got the Falcons’ offense back on the tracks, and his goal on the heels of Himley’s pretty much removed any doubt about the outcome.

Up next

The teams conclude their series on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. at Cadet Arena. The eight Falcons seniors – Dylan Abood, Baskin, Boje, Himley, Jonathan Kopacka, Ben Kucera, Ledford and Kyle Mackey will be honored before the game.