MALDEN, Mass. - Sophomore Chris Johnson (Duxbury, Mass./Pomfret School) made 39 saves, and the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team drew Tufts University, 2-2, on Tuesday at Valley Forum. The Purple Knights are now 2-1-2 in their last five games while moving to 4-8-2 this season, returning to action for the first time since Dec. 9. The Jumbos, who tied 11th-ranked Neumann University in their last game, are 6-3-3.

Senior Connor Mitchell (New Milford, Conn./Kent School) had a goal and an assist for Saint Michael's, sophomore Sam D'Antuono (Hingham, Mass./Dexter School) scored, while junior Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) was 15-of-18 on faceoffs. Senior Shawn Morrow (East Greenbush, N.Y./Kent School) added an 11-of-18 effort in the Purple Knights' first meeting with Tufts since Feb. 18, 2011. Johnson extended his modern-day consecutive-minutes school record to 899:28 while remaining one of only three NCAA Division II/III goaltenders to play all of his team's minutes this winter. With 1,115 career saves, he already has the most ever by a Purple Knight through his sophomore year, eclipsing Phil Fernandez's '87 mark of 1,086.

First-years Anthony Farinacci and Jordan Haney scored for the Jumbos, classmate Cory Gottfried added two assists, and senior Mason Pulde made 28 saves.

The Purple Knights held a 14-8 advantage in shots during the opening period before attempting only 16 more during the final 45 minutes. Johnson made a pair of stops during a Tufts power play that began four minutes after the opening whistle and denied first-year Ross Delabruere's shorthanded bid at 11:55 before Mitchell and Morrow had back-to-back shots saved on the same power play at 12:58. With 35 ticks to go, Haney cracked the scoring column with a power-play tally, and the Jumbos carried the 1-0 edge into the intermission.

Despite being outshot 19-7, Saint Michael's scored the only two goals of the second period. Just 15 seconds in, D'Antuono found the equalizer off of assists from Mitchell and senior defenseman Stephen Inman (Coventry, R.I./Odessa Jackalopes). Johnson made four of his stops on a power play that started at 10:51, and following a fifth just after the end of the man advantage, Mitchell tallied at the other end with 12:52 gone to put the visitors in front.

Farinacci tied the game 7:19 into the third period, and Inman, junior Nathan Foice (Essex, Vt./The Winchendon School) and sophomore Jack Ouellette (Arlington, Mass./Dexter School) all blocked shots during a power play that started at 11:37 to keep the game knotted. Johnson made a stop off of senior Matt Pugh at the left post with 1:11 to go before denying sophomore Clay Berger's wraparound bid at 15 seconds.

Tufts held a 5-1 edge in shots during the extra session, including as Johnson made a sprawling save with 54 seconds left, and Mitchell blocked one final shot with eight ticks remaining to clinch the tie.

The Purple Knights return to New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) play by heading to the University of Southern Maine on Friday at 7 p.m.