The men’s hockey team came from behind Friday evening to win the first game in a best-of-three series for the ECAC tournament quarterfinal.

At first, it appeared as if the fans in blue at Ingalls Rink would be disappointed. Bottom seed Brown, fresh off its upset series win against Harvard last weekend, jumped out to an early two goal lead. The Cinderella story looked promising.

But the top-seeded Elis responded with four straight goals and ultimately overwhelmed the Bears (5-22-5, 3-15-4 ECAC) for a 4-2 victory.

Forwards Patrick Brosnihan ’09, Denny Kearney ’11, Broc Little ’11, and Kevin Limbert ’12 scored for the Bulldogs (21-7-2, 15-5-2), while goalie Alec Richards ’09 had 26 saves.

The Bulldogs, who received a first round bye last week, were outshot 15-4 in the opening frame.

But Brosnihan’s goal midway through the second frame not only put the Elis on the board but also sparked the team’s offense. From then on, the home team began piling shots on Brown goalie Mike Clemente.

Kearney scored to tie the game with three seconds left in the second period, catching Brown in a 4-on-3 situation. Little and Limbert each added power play goals in the third period to put the Bulldogs on top.

The Elis will look to close out the series Saturday night at another 7 p.m. opening face-off at Ingalls.