HARMAR TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Panthers (8-1, 1-1) took down the Toledo Rockets (3-4) Friday night at Alpha Ice Complex thanks to hat tricks by Ben Leslie and Austin Tonkovich.
Pitt opened the scoring when Oldrich Virag put a puck past Rockets’ goaltender Manny Hertel-Bauman for a 1-0 Panthers lead just over halfway through the first period. Tonkovich added his first of three goals just 45 seconds later. It seemed as if Pitt would cruise through the game, holding a 9-1 advantage in shots, when Leslie got his first of three goals with 5:38 remaining in the first period to extend the lead to three.
Nik Verbosky scored for Toledo with 19 seconds to play in the first period trim the lead to two.
Leslie put in his second goal of the night just under five minutes into the second period to extend the Panthers lead back to three goals to 4-1.
Toledo started their bid for a comeback less than a minute later from Ian Rapp. He scored his first two of three goals on the night to trim the lead to 4-2, then to pull the Rockets to within a goal.
After a Max Milan pinball-like goal in front of the Toledo net at 12:06 where Pitt extended their lead once more, Toledo killed off the first penalty of the night and subsequently scored their own power play goal just 19 seconds in to a Brenden Welch interference penalty.
The teams headed into the second intermission with the Panthers narrowly leading, 5-4.
Toledo eventually scored their fifth goal of the night, but not before Pitt scored four straight to all but seal the victory. Pitt took the 9-5 win and improved to 8-1 overall on the season, while Toledo fell to 3-4.
MAJOR FOCUS: Pitt rides big third period to their eighth win of the season
