Quinnipiac handled Merrimack 6-3 in regulation, and the margin never really moved. The Bobcats won each of the three periods 2-1, a rare bit of symmetry that left the Warriors chasing from the opening frame on without ever closing the gap.
Quinnipiac led 2-1 after twenty minutes, pushed it to 4-2 through forty, and finished at 6-3. The turning point was less a single shift than the absence of one: every time Merrimack answered, Quinnipiac responded within the same period, and the two-goal cushion held from the second intermission forward.
The number that defines it is three — three periods, three two-goal outputs, three Merrimack replies that never came in pairs. Scoring details were not available, but the Bobcats' even distribution of offense across all sixty minutes is the cleanest read on how this one was decided.