EASTHAMPTON — Leading 2-1 late in the third period, the Amherst Regional boys hockey team just had to hang on for another two minutes to sweep the season series with Easthampton on Friday afternoon at Lossone Rink.

The Eagles had several quality chances to find an equalizer, perhaps their best coming from Jaevian Lopez on a one-timer a step inside the face-off circle. Lopez ripped a shot on the cage, but Hurricanes goalie Spencer McDonald slid across the crease and stuffed the attempt to keep Amherst in front.

Amherst continued to pack it in and despite Easthampton peppering McDonald, the ‘Canes did prevail 2-1 – their second one-goal win over the Eagles this winter.

“Bend, don’t break,” Amherst head coach Mike Rousseau said. “They stayed the course, and to come into a place like this against a quality hockey team like Easthampton, it’s huge for our boys. We’ve got three more games, hopefully we get a one or a two seed in the Western Mass. tournament and we’ll go from there.”

After a scoreless first period and nearly 10 more minutes of scoreless hockey in the second, the two teams traded goals less than two minutes apart. That set the stage for the third period, where Amherst’s Noah Latulippe broke the tie. Benjamin Remensnyder fired a shot from the point with traffic in front, and Latulippe got a stick on it. The puck redirected into the net to give Amherst a 2-1 lead just 1 minute, 30 seconds into the frame.

The goal, Latulippe’s first career pot at the varsity level, stood as the game-winner.

“Overall, this was our best performance of the season,” Rousseau said. “Playing against a team like Easthampton, that’s a great team and [Eagles head coach Timothy Pfau] is a great coach. Our trap works, but this was the second time [Easthampton] had seen it. We set it up to make it hard to get through. It’s layered, and it’s one of our great strengths.”

Easthampton got the scoring started with under seven minutes to go in the second, when Jimmy Brenahan whipped a pass over to Max Scribner trailing the play at the point. Scribner rifled a wrist shot toward McDonald, who knocked it down with his glove. But McDonald didn’t catch enough of a piece, as it still trickled over the line and in for a goal.

The goal didn’t affect McDonald in the slightest, as he responded by making timely save over and over again for Amherst. Whether it was clean shooting windows from the point, open opportunities on the doorstep or good looks from the slot, Easthampton couldn’t put another one past McDonald.

“You got to give a hat tip to Spencer, he’s a fantastic goalie,” Pfau said. “But it came down to us not doing enough things right. At some point you have to make a move. The third period was fine, but we should’ve had more opportunities in the first and second. We didn’t want to adapt to the style they were playing, and we shot ourselves in the foot.”

Eric Chen responded with a goal for Amherst less than two minutes later, firing a shot from the slot past Easthampton netminder Tommy Bixby. The Hurricanes hadn’t played their best through the first 20 or so minutes, but Scribner’s tally woke them up.

The final five minutes of the second flipped in favor of Amherst, and it out-shot Easthampton 11-8 in the period.

“They could have turtled up,” Rousseau said. “Our senior goalie (McDonald) misplayed that puck badly, and he’ll be the first one to tell you he should’ve had it. But that’s what a senior leader does. He put it behind him. As a leader, he comes to practice every day and leads by example. I put this team on his shoulders, and they all follow him. Tonight was a great example of that.”

Latulippe’s heroics played out immediately in the third, putting Amherst in the driver’s seat. Easthampton drew a penalty with 7 minutes, 45 seconds to go in the third, but it couldn’t convert on the man-advantage as the Eagles remained down a goal.

Easthampton’s power-play struggles came back to haunt it on Friday.

“Our power play was horrendous,” Pfau said. “We lost this game. We lost it. You can’t go 0-fer on a power play.”

Despite the loss, the Eagles had entered Friday having won six of their last seven games – catapulting them back into the Western Mass. tournament conversation. They have four games left, and need to play well to secure a spot in the tournament.

If Easthampton does get in, Pfau can see his squad making a run based on its strong performance of late.

“We set our goal at the beginning of the year, and that was to win Western Mass.,” Pfau said. “We need to win our league games in order to clinch that. Today was one of them unfortunately. We have two left against McCann Tech to set ourselves up in a decent spot. It’s a new season, the tournament is. If we get to that top four, we have as good a chance to win as anyone.”

Easthampton (6-8-1) hosts McCann Tech at Lossone Rink on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.

Amherst (9-4-1) is fighting with Agawam for the No. 1 seed in the Class B tourney, and the ‘Canes will look to strengthen their case on Monday night (8:20 p.m.) at Orr Rink against Southwick.