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ASTON, Pa. -- Host Neumann built a 4-0 lead midway through the second period Friday and the 14th-ranked Knights went on to take a 5-3 men's hockey victory over Nazareth in an ECAC West contest.

Neumann improved to 15-6-3 overall and 7-6-1 in conference games. The Golden Flyers lost for the sixth straight time and dropped to 6-17-1 overall and 1-13 in ECAC West action. The two teams close out the regular-season schedule Saturday as they meet again at 7 p.m.

After falling behind 4-0, Nazareth rallied to score three times in a span of 2:25 before the second period ended to close to within 4-3. The Knights, however, scored an insurance goal midway through the third period to close out the scoring.

Scott Farrell scored Neumann's first goal at 7:58 of the opening period and the score went unchanged until 11:05 of the second when a goal by Neumann's Steve Gervais triggered a three-goal flurry in a span of just 1:47. Craig Cowie scored just 49 seconds after Gervais' goal, which led to a goalie switch for the Golden Flyers as Joe Gladnick replaced Ed Zdolshek.

Less than a minute after Cowie's goal, Neumann scored on the power play as Jordan Zalba scored off assists from Cowie and Farrell.

Nazareth then used a scoring flurry of its own to get back in the game. Freshman Kyle Nelson netted his first career goal at 15:39 off assists from Tom Seravalli and Scott Dawson.

The Golden Flyers then used the power play to score its next two goals. Junior defenseman Jordan Ciccarello scored his third goal of the season off an assist from Mark Zavorin at 17:06. Then less than a minute later, Dawson delivered his eighth goal of the season with a power play tally off assists from Ben Waldman and Julius Tamasy.

Nazareth had an 11-7 edge in shots on goal in the third period, but Neumann scored the lone goal as Sean Crozier scored off an assist from Mikko Virtanen.

Zdolshek was credited with 14 saves in nearly 32 minutes of action. Gladnick made nine saves. Shots were even at 28.