The Hamilton College men's hockey team dropped a 4-3 decision to visiting Tufts Sunday at Russell Sage Rink. The Jumbos scored three straight goals to break a 1-1 tie; the Continentals scored twice in the final period to close within a goal but the visitors held on for the win.

Hamilton is now 13-7-2 with an 8-6-2 NESCAC mark. The Jumbos improve to 9-8-5 overall and 5-7-4 in the NESCAC.

The Continental rally started midway through the final period when the hosts took advantage of a five-minute power play (the game featured 63 penalty minutes, including 40 against the Jumbos). Robbie Murden '17 scored his team and NESCAC-leading 15th goal to pull the Continentals to 4-2 at 7:52 of the third.

With 2:40 remaining in the third period, Neil Conway '18 scored his second goal of the game to make it a one-goal contest. Brandon Willett '18 and Conor Lamberti '17 assisted on the goal, which was his 12th this winter.

Hamilton outshot Tufts 15-7 in the third, but Tufts goaltender Mason Pulde held the Continentals scoreless the rest of the way.

The teams traded goals 34 seconds apart midway through the first. David Lackner put Tufts ahead 8:57 into the game, redirecting a shot by Nick Abbene over the shoulder of Hamilton's Evan Buitenhuis '18 into the net.

Hamilton answered quickly with Conway tipping a shot by Tyler Lovejoy '16 into the open left side of Tufts' goal.

Lackner put the visitors ahead to stay just 32 seconds before the first intermission, carrying the puck down the right side and beating Buitenhuis to the short side. Tufts pushed its lead to three with a pair of second-period goals; Abbene scored a power-play goal off the faceoff just five seconds into a Jumbo power play. Chad Goldberg closed out the visitors' scoring with 2:08 left in the period, fighting through a scramble of players in front of the net to pick up his fifth goal of the season.

Buitenhuis finished with 21 saves and Pulde stopped 31 shots.

The Continentals, who are fourth in the NESCAC standings, wrap up the regular season with weekend games at Middlebury (Saturday at 4 p.m.) and Williams (Sunday at 3 p.m.). Hamilton and Middlebury are two of six teams fighting for the final two home quarterfinal games in the NESCAC Championship; the Ephs took over first place in the conference with a pair of wins this weekend.