The Middlebury men's hockey team battled back from a two-goal deficit, but gave up three unanswered goals in the third period, falling 5-2 at #11 Plattsburgh State in the PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout consolation game. The Panthers return to action on Friday when they host Connecticut College in their home opener at 7:00 p.m.

Plattsburgh State took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 3:35 into the game. Nick Belger found the top-right corner of the net after a feed from Joe Drabin.

The lead doubled at 18:07 when Brady Pfaff redirected a pass through traffic by Ayrton Valente.

Middlebury got on the board with a power-play goal 7:54 into the second session. Vincent Gisonti scored on a rebound after Braeden Quast's shot through traffic bounced off the pad of Plattsburgh State netminder Joshua Davies.The Panthers tied the game when Joey Piccinini scored his first career goal at the 14:13 mark. After taking a feed from Spencer Cage, Piccinini put a shot over the shoulder of Davies to make it a 2-2 game.

The Cardinals stormed back in the third period with three-straight goals to earn the victory. Jesse Neher (5:10), Pat Egan (10:15) and Joe Drabin (19:44) scored, with the latter goal coming on a power play.

Plattsburgh State finished the game with a 45-28 shots advantage, going 2-6 on the power play, while the Panthers were 1-4. Stephen Klein made a career-high 40 saves for Middlebury, while Davies made 26 stops for the Cardinals.