CASTLETON, Vt. – The Spartans dropped their fifth consecutive contest as St. Michael's scored four goals in the first two periods en route to capturing a 5-1 victory. 

With the loss, Castleton falls to 3-7 (3-4 ECAC East) on the year, whereas the Purple Knights improve to 4-3-2 overall (3-2-1 ECAC East). The hosts were outshot in the contest by four and failed to capitalize on any power play opportunities. James Burns grabbed the lone Spartan goal, while Trevor Hanna and Derek Gingera recorded one assist each. 

The Purple Knights held the momentum in the opening minutes of play, as they controlled the puck and maintained possession in Castleton's zone. At the 13:54 marker in the first, St. Michael's grabbed an early 1-0 lead after Kevin Altidor netted the rebound from A.J. Pieprzak's shot.

Early in the second period, the Spartans nearly grabbed an equalizer on its first power play of the evening when Tyler Gaudry's shot from the point went post wide, and the Purple Knights were able to kill off the penalty with no damage.

5:22 into the middle frame, St. Michael's extended their advantage after Josh Dickman scored for the third time in 2014. A pass was delivered into the crease, and Dickman knocked it home to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. 

Just over midway through the second, Pieprzak capitalized on a power play opportunity to push the Purple Knights lead to three. With 8:18 remaining in the second, Danny Divis and Mark Higgins provided the service, as Pieprzak's slapshot from the point found the back of the net to make it 3-0 in favor of the away side.

At the 13:26 marker, St. Michael's tacked on another goal to make it 4-0. A Castleton turnover at mid-ice led to a one-on-one opportunity for Eric Salzillo, and the freshman right wing deked past the hosts goalie and finished a backhanded shot to push the visitors advantage to four. 

Castleton got one back just before the end of the second when Burns scored his first career goal. The freshman defender received a pass from Hanna while cutting towards the goal, and he fired a shot on target that was knocked aside by the visitor's goalie, Dave Donzati. Burns then corralled his own rebound and put it away to cut the Spartans deficit back to three with 3:39 remaining in the middle frame.

With just over five minutes left in the final period of play, the visitors increased their lead back to four when Pieprzak scored his second goal of the game and fifth goal of the season. The Purple Knights forward received the puck just wide of the net and fired a shot that beat Mulder top shelf, as St. Michael's notched a 5-1 victory.  

In net, Ryan Mulder suffered his fifth loss of the season after stopping 15 shots, while Brody Wagner received his first action of the year with 11 saves. Donzati, meanwhile, stopped 26 of the 27 shots that he faced to notch his fourth win of the season.

The Spartans return to action tomorrow at Spartan Arena when they battle second-ranked Norwich in a "White Out Game" beginning at 4 pm.