Air Force overcame a sluggish start and a maddening 5-on-3 power play to edge Robert Morris by an identical 3-1 for the second night in a row and sweep an Atlantic Hockey Conference series for the first time in almost two months.

Linemates Brady Tomlak and Walker Sommer each had a goal and an assist, Kyle Haak scored an empty-net goal for the second night in a row and Billy Christopoulos again was sharp in net for the Falcons (13-9-4, 11-6-3 AHC).

Christopoulos made 22 saves one night after needing to stop just 14 shots and ran his string of games allowing two or fewer goals to eight.

Air Force’s first sweep since Nov. 30-Dec. 1 at RIT secured its hold on second in AHC as well.

“We haven’t won a lot in 2019 (this was the Falcons’ third victory in eight starts) so that was good for us to get some wins,” Haak said. “We got some great bounces in both games. Had some big-time saves. Last night (defenseman) Dan Bailey dove and made that save, and tonight we had Bill spreading eagle for a couple of big saves. Hopefully we can get some momentum we needed from this.”

Air Force is two points ahead of RIT and two back of first-place AIC, which swept the Falcons in mid-November. The top five teams earn AHC first-round playoff byes and the top four play host to home quarterfinal series.

Disaster averted

Tomlak’s patient back-door feed to Sommer tied the score with 6:09 to go in the first period. The center held the puck as he skated into the right circle and appeared to load for a shot on Francis Marotte (26 saves). As Tomlak crossed the dot, he found Sommer had an angle on the defender on Marotte’s back door and fed him for a tap-in.

Twenty-four seconds later, the Falcons had a chance to blow the game open but blew it. Jacob Coleman was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a contact to the head elbowing penalty on Evan Feno.

Coleman, who had scored RMU’s goal on a power play 4:55 into the game on a nifty redirection of Michael Louria‘s shot from above the left circle, exited, and 2:12 into the penalty Alex Tonge was assessed another penalty, giving the Falcons a two-minute, two-man advantage.

“If we think we’re going to be the team we are, a service academy team, a hard-working, blue collar team and then all of a sudden we turn into glamour queens on the power play there’s not going to be a happy ending to this story,” AFA coach Frank Serratore said. “In our first couple of power plays they had more quality shots than we did.”

The Falcons got their only four shots on Marotte during the five-on-three and then needed a great pad stop by Christopoulos on Tonge’s breakaway as he exited the sin bin to keep the game even in the closing seconds of the first.

“We played a good three periods yesterday, we played a good two periods today,”  Serratore added. “We were very fortunate not to be down 2- or 3-1 after the first period. I came in and the locker room was really quiet, and I said, ‘You guys should be dancing with each other right now. We have to reset. We were terrible.’

“Give Robert Morris credit. … There’s a lot of good things in our game. I don’t want to emphasize the bad. It’s not often when you get off to a slow start in the first period and you blow a 5-minute major power play and a full-service 5 on 3, it’s not often you end up winning that game.”

Powering up

The Falcons grew stronger as the second period went along, and Tomlak supplied all the offense they would require when he scored a power-play goal after multiple chances in a sequence in Marotte’s kitchen.

That it came with just 17 seconds to play was an added bonus.

“Our best player was the player we needed to be our best player. Billy kept us in there in the first period,” Serratore said. “Then we did turn that game. We did score a power play goal but it was far from a glamorous goal, but it looks pretty beautiful to me. Three guys around the blue paint hacking and whacking and we find a way to get it into the net.”

The final turning point came with 2:34 to go when Zack Mirageas took a high-sticking penalty that shortly thereafter turned into a Colonials six-on-four when Marotte headed off.

After a lengthy stretch in AFA’s zone, a shot deflected into the net behind Christopoulos, who again was forced to make a couple of big stops.

“They put me out there to win draws and I lost it,” Tomlak said. “They hemmed us in and pulled the goalie. When it gets to that 30-, 35-second mark you want to pack it in and get in lanes and eat pucks if you have to.”

Seconds later, Haak gained control of the puck in the neutral zone near the boards opposite the benches and backhanded a shot into Marotte’s vacant net. Game, set, match.

“Kyle Haak made an unbelievable shot digging one off the wall on his backhand that went in the net,” Serratore concluded. “Billy was great. We came up big at the end when we needed. That was tailor-made them for tie that game and take it into overtime.”

Air Force’s three stars

1. Brady Tomlak. He made the play that led to the first AFA goal and scored the second.
2. Billy Christopoulos. When tested, he was outstanding, finishing with 22 saves.
3. Walker Sommer. His legs were going and he created headaches for RMU all game on top of scoring the first Falcons goal.

Up next

The Falcons travel to Massachusetts to play Bentley, which swept Canisius this weekend. The games Friday and Saturday start at 5:05 p.m.

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