POTSDAM, N.Y. — Oh, boy.

For the second time in as many nights, Colorado College struggled to generate offense against a physical Clarkson team.

In Saturday’s 2-2 tie with Clarkson at Cheel Arena, it was more a product of penalties than lack of chemistry–or perhaps the two went hand-in-hand.

In the third period and overtime, both teams combined for 15 penalties — many of the head-scratching variety — and spent 24 minutes and 42 seconds of the 65-minute game playing with special teams.

The Tigers’ penalty kill extended its streak to 40 consecutive successful kills before finally cracking with nine seconds left in a third-period penalty and less than five minutes left in regulation. Goaltender Richard Bachman — who turned away 40 shots in the game, including 12 in penalty-kill situations — didn’t see the loopy shot from right wing Scott Freeman until it had sailed past his right ear and landed in the back of the net to knot the score at two apiece.

“I’ll have to check it out on video,” Bachman said.

The Tigers, who were outshot 42-32, had held the lead for more than 33 minutes before Freeman scored. It’s the first time CC has been outshot this season.

CC took a 2-1 lead at 2:06 of the second. Left wing Tim Hall came streaking in off the bench and hit the post with a shot from the right circle. Goaltender Paul Karpowich lost track of it, but center Chad Rau didn’t — he found the puck behind Karpowich and tapped it in for the lead.

Bill Sweatt scored 16 seconds into the first period, when a centering pass attempt got caught in Karpowich’s pads and trickled into the net. But Clarkson’s top scorer Chris D’Alvise, who missed Friday’s game after getting a game disqualification for spearing last week, answered back nearly six minute later with a rocket from the right circle that beat Bachman over his left shoulder.

Here’s what two Tigers had to say after Saturday’s tie:

Bill Sweatt: “We’ve got to find a way, especially in the second game, to keep that lead. We got into penalty trouble, but we’ve got to stay out of the box. … It was frustrating because we had such a good start and then they came on and we took a couple of penalties. … In the second and third we had a lot of spurts of really good play, but then we’d get penalties. I don’t know if they were all legit or whatever, but that’s not an excuse and we’ve got to stay out of the box.”

Richard Bachman: “It got crazy out there. … Eventually you’re going to have give up one (power-play goal). You realize that. But still, that’s a tough way to give up that first one, especially in the third period, late in the game, second game of the weekend–you don’t want to be giving up power-play goals then. That’s not what we wanted. It’s kind of disappointing and stuff when you give up the tying goal, but we’ve just got to keep going and try to catch our bounces, too.”

Colorado College (4-0-1)

21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
23 Hall — 19 Vlassopoulos — 28 Schultz
5 DeBoer — 17 Johnson — 25 Testwuide
18 Overman — 9 McMillin — 20 Dineen

11 Connelly — 15 Prosser
7 Fredheim — 4 Gannon
10 Guentzel — 24 Lowery

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell

Clarkson University (1-1-1)

81 Cayer — 11 D’Alvise — 8 Beca
77 DeFazio — 27 Tuohimaa — 9 Freeman
14 Morley — 21 Marks — 19 Oakley
18 Tremblay — 7 Tamblyn — 13 Tuttle

3 Pizzo — 55 Borowiecki
12 Mason — 5 Bellows
89 Rufenach — 4 Reed

30 Karpowich
29 Potter
1 LaVeau

Clarkson 1 0 1 2

Colorado College 1 1 0 2

First period – 1. CC, Sweatt (unassisted), :16. 2. CU, D’Alvise (Reed), 6:13. Penalties – Pizzo, CU (holding), 9:16; Vlassopoulos, CC (hooking), 10:45; Prosser, CC (slashing), 15:04; Marks, CU (tripping), 17:29; Marks, CU (charging), 20:00.

Second – 3. CC, Rau (Hall, Walsky), 2:06. Penalties – McMillin, CC (hitting from behind), 8:57; Team, CC (too many men on the ice), 15:42; Connelly, CC (interference), 17:24.

Third – 4. CU, Freeman (DeFazio), 15:32, pp. Penalties – Gannon, CC (tripping), 4:45; Connelly, CC (holding), 8:36; Tremblay, CU (interference), 9:15; Guentzel, CC (hooking), 10:34; DeFazio, CU (contact to the head), 10:34; Beca, CU (hooking), 11:38; Vlassopoulos, CC (high-sticking), 11:55; Borowiecki, CU (holding), 12:26; Schultz, CC (interference), 13:19; McMillin, CC (hitting from behind), 13:41; Cayer, CU (tripping), 16:46.

Overtime – none. Penalties – Bellows, CU (hooking), 2:17; Walsky, CC (high-sticking), 3:24; Rufenach, CU (tripping), 4:11; Sweatt, CC (slashing), 4:52.

Shots on goal – CU 12-9-18-3-42. CC 13-6-10-1-30. Power-play Opportunities – CU 1 of 10, CC 0 of 9. Goalies – CU, Karpowich 12-5-10-1 (30 shots, 28 saves), 1-1-2. CC, Bachman 11-9-17-3 (42 shots, 40 saves), 3-0-2. A – 3,392. T – 2:30. Referees – Chip McDonald, Scott Whittemore. Linesmen – Brett Reed, Christopher Piti.