The Pilgrim hockey team made a splash as it topped Moses Brown 6-3 in the play-in game of the Division I Playoffs at Thayer on Tuesday.

Pilgrim was clicking early and would roll out to a 4-0 lead by the midway point of the second period. Although the Quakers scored a pair of goals early in the third to keep the Pats honest in the final frame, Pilgrim would maintain control and close out the win.

“It’s always a great thing to get ahead right away. You’re not pressuring yourself and you can go out and play your game. We got scoring from all lines which was nice and we’ve been playing better in the second half of the year. For us to play solid from the net out has been encouraging,” said Pilgrim coach Mike Boyajian.

Captain Ryan Barlow scored a pair of goals for Pilgrim while Richie Cavanagh, Jack Sayler, Andrew Hatch and Kyle Menard also found the back of the net. Barlow also recorded an assist. Goalie Braxton Bragg made 23 stops in net.

After a rocky first half of the regular season in which the Pats were dealing with injury and roster turnover from Toll Gate’s departure, Pilgrim turned things around in the second half and won three of its final five games.

Despite losing much of last year’s team, including multiple defensemen, Pilgrim is confident heading into the quarterfinals while being led by the All-Star trio of Barlow, Cavanagh and Bragg.

“We just have to go at it and have some fun, stay balanced. Barlow and Cavanagh have gotten hot as of late, we have Braxton in net and we can ride his back. We just need to play our best hockey and see what happens,” said Boyajian.

Pilgrim will be taking on top-seeded Prout, who finished the regular season with a 15-1 league record. Prout topped Pilgrim by scores of 4-0 and 2-1.

The Pats will be underdogs heading into the best-of-three series, so playing a clean game will give them the best chance to pull off the upset, according to Boyajian.

“(Prout is) a scrappy, hard-nosed team and they proved it all year. Very good goaltending, good defensively and we’re going to have to play almost a flawless game. You have to stay out of the box. Special teams win you games in the playoffs as well as your goalie,” said Boyajian. “We can’t give them any advantages. They’re young but they’re strong.”