SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame fell in heartbreaking fashion to No. 20/18 Merrimack on Friday evening, as the Warriors scored in the final minute of overtime to escape Compton Family Ice Arena with a 2-1 win.
Evan Werner scored the Fighting Irish goal in the second period on a power play, marking his team-high third of the season.
Freshman goaltender Patrick Quinlan made his first career start between the pipes and finished with 20 saves on the evening.
The Irish outshot Merrimack 33-22 and won 36-of-57 faceoffs over the course of the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish controlled much of the first period but with less than four minutes left in the period the Warriors picked up a loose puck in their offensive zone and scored the opener off a shot from Ty Daneault to put the visitors on top 1-0.
Notre Dame nearly leveled the score in the final minute, as Danny Nelson found Cole Brown in front of the goal but the Merrimack goaltender made a big save to keep the lead intact heading into the first intermission.
The Fighting Irish came out of the break and was all over Merrimack, pressuring its defensive zone.
Notre Dame went on the power play with just over 13 minutes left in the second period and instantly capitalized on the man advantage. After Danny Nelson won a faceoff the Irish worked it around before Brown threaded a pass to Werner on the left wing and the senior fired a one-timer into the back of the net to tie it up at 1-1 at the 7:09 mark of the period.
Neither side was able to find the go-ahead goal for the remainder of the period, as the score was deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
The Irish put four shots on cage in the opening three minutes of play but couldn’t come up with their second to take their first lead of the night.
Four minutes into the third the Warriors went on the power play for the second time of the evening but Notre Dame held the visitors to just one shot on frame to kill the two-minute minor.
Neither team was able to score in the final period of regulation, despite Notre Dame outshooting Merrimack 15-7.
The Irish had the majority of possession in the overtime session, recording the first two shots of the five-minute period. However, Merrimack came up with the game-winning goal off the stick of Nick Pierre with just 49 seconds left on the clock to give the visitors the win in game one of the series.
UP NEXT
Game two of the series is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 24. The game will air on Peacock and fans can purchase tickets for the game here.