Hamilton College had a big night on special teams and the Continentals posted a 5-2 NESCAC win against the Middlebury College Panthers at Hamilton's Russell Sage Rink on Friday.

The Continentals (16-3-4, 10-3-4 NESCAC) went 4-for-14 on the power play including two goals during a five-minute major midway through the second period. The teams combined for 72 penalty minutes. 

Hamilton -- winners of four straight and ranked ninth in both the D3hockey.com and USCHO.com Division III Top 15 polls -- moved into first place in the conference standings thanks to Williams College's 1-0 loss at Amherst College. The Continentals host Williams in the regular season finale on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. The Ephs are tied for second with Colby College with NESCAC records of 10-4-3. Hamilton reached 16 victories in a season for the first time since 1997-98.

Rory Gagnon '19 led the Continentals with two goals and Neil Conway '18 chipped in a goal and an assist. Conway leads the team with 22 points. Jon Carkeek '17 was credited with three assists and Sterling Bray '20 added a pair. Carkeek is third in the conference with 17 assists and tied for first in defenseman scoring with 20 points. Evan Buitenhuis '18 made 25 saves.

Middlebury (3-18-2, 3-14-0) received a goal and an assist from Vincent Gisonti. Stephen Klein started in goal and stopped 16 shots in 32-plus minutes. Brian Ketchabaw relieved Klein with 7:47 left in the second period and turned away 18 shots.

The score was tied 1-1 after the first period but Hamilton tallied three goals and held a 15-4 shot advantage in the second. Gagnon put the Continentals in the lead for good 8:45 into the period when he redirected a shot by Carkeek taken from above the right circle for his sixth goal.

Hamilton was the beneficiary of a five-minute power play 44 seconds later when one of the Panthers received a major penalty for boarding. The Continentals took advantage by scoring two goals for a 4-1 cushion.

The first one came with 8:18 remaining in the period. Conor Lamberti '17 took a pass from Bennett Morrison '20 and skated with the puck down to the bottom of the right circle. Lamberti turned and bounced a pass off the right boards back to Morrison above the circle, and Morrison unleashed a wrist shot that settled high into the back of the net for his fourth goal.

Hamilton scored again 31 seconds later. Bray picked up a loose puck behind the Panther goal and passed it to Jason Brochu '19 by the left boards. Brochu skated to the dot in the left faceoff circle and took a wrist shot that Klein seemed to stop but the puck trickled past him and over the goal line for his 10th goal.

The Continentals clinched the win with Conway's seventh goal just five seconds into a 4-on-3 power play at 3:39 of the third period. He won a faceoff in the left circle, skated to the slot and scored on a wrist shot that snuck under Ketchabaw.

Middlebury notched both its goals on rebounds after saves by Buitenhuis. Travis Stephens scored from the slot for his second goal this season with 6:41 to go in the third. Gisonti gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal at 8:08 of the first period when he batted the puck out of the air and into the net from the right post during a 5-on-3 power play. Middlebury ended up with just those two power-play opportunities.

Hamilton tied the score on a power-play goal with 34 seconds left in the first. Carkeek carried the puck up ice and through the neutral zone and passed to Truman Landowski '17 at the blue line. Landowski skated into the offensive zone and passed to his left to Gagnon, who snapped a wrist shot from just inside the left circle.

The Continentals finished with a 39-27 shot advantage. Hamilton blanked the Panthers 3-0 at Middlebury back on Dec. 9.