The Middlebury men's hockey team grabbed a 2-1 lead late in the first period and never looked back in a 4-2 victory over Tufts on Friday evening. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers looked to get on the board with 1:29 elapsed. Luc Malkhassian raced ahead for a one-on-one opportunity against Jumbos netminder Gus Bylin. The rookie ripped a shot from between the faceoff circles, but his bid was stonewalled.
• Middlebury grabbed the lead at the 7:16 mark. Jake Stevens flipped a backhand pass to a darting Cole Semeniuk, who fired a sizzling chance into the left side of the net.
• Tufts bounced back to knot the contest with nine minutes remaining in the opening stanza, as Mason Daignault redirected a bid from Sylas Oberting past Panthers goalie Andrew Heinze.
• The visitors jumped back ahead 3:20 later. Reece Brednich tapped a quick feed to Jack Silverman. The forward wasted no time, tucking his rising shot into the right side of the net.
• The Jumbos nearly tallied the equalizer on a doorstep chance from Max Resnick at the 16:54 mark. Heinze stood his ground and stuffed the point-blank chance.
• Middlebury added to its lead with 3:37 expired in the second stanza. Michael Fairfax blitzed into the zone and made a quick left-right fake before sliding it past Bylin.
• Tufts responded 25 ticks later. After Ethan Ullrick had his initial bid denied, the puck sat loose in the crease. Brendan Fennell slid to his left and tapped it past the goal line to trim the deficit to 3-2.
• Ullrick and Resnick logged back-to-back chances beginning at the 7:38 mark. Heinze stood his ground and denied both bids.
• With less than a second remaining in the second stanza, the Panthers doubled their lead. Tyler Wishart won a faceoff deep in the Tufts zone and skated behind the net. The rookie found Bobby May for a laser that tucked inside the left post before the buzzer sounded to make it 4-2.
• Tufts looked to cash in with an extra skater with 3:07 expired in the third stanza. Resnick parked himself on the left post and tried to poke it past Heinze. The netminder turned the look away to keep the Jumbos off the board.
• At the 10:24 mark, Silverman created a breakout after causing a turnover at the top of the zone. Revy Mack collected the loose puck and raced up the ice for a one-timer that Bylin denied.
• The Jumbos pulled Bylin for an extra skater with 2:51 left, but could not get a shot on target as Middlebury earned the two-goal victory.

NOTES

• Fairfax tallied his first goal of the campaign.
• Stevens extended his point streak to five consecutive contests with his helper on the initial tally. 
• Brednich secured a career-high 19 faceoff wins.
• With the win, Middlebury secures its first regular-season sweep of Tufts since the 2013-14 campaign.

The Panthers close their conference road trip against Connecticut College on Saturday, with puck drop slated for 3:00 p.m.