More of a playmaker than a goal scorer his first two seasons at Colorado College, Rylan Schwartz seems to have discovered the magic touch around the net.

The junior center from Wilcox, Saskatchewan, struck for a pair of tallies on Friday, fuelng the Tigers to a 4-1 non-conference victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in their first road outing of the 2011-12 campaign.

Junior goaltender Joe Howe steered aside 24 of 25 shots by the Engineers as No. 3-ranked CC, now 3-0, prevailed in the opener of a two-game series at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.  

Howe's biggest save of the night came with 2:05 remaining in the contest, when he robbed freshman center Zach Schroeder from point-blank range to preserve a 2-1 lead.

Defenseman Mike Boivin and William Rapuzzi, also juniors, added empty-net goals in the final half minute of play to seal the triumph.   

The performance by Schwartz, who recorded a hat trick against Bemidji State University two weeks ago, gave him five red lighters already for the season and 21 for his collegiate career. He scored six as a freshman and 10 as a sophomore, to go along with 50 career assists.

His second goal on Friday, a power-play effort at 19:46 of the second period, staked the Tigers to a 2-0 cushion and proved to be the game winner after RPI's Patrick Cullen spoiled Howe's bid for a shutout  just 10 seconds later. Sophomore left wing Jaden Schwartz and senior defenseman Gabe Guentzel combined to set up the team's first of two PPGs in the game.   

The older Schwartz now has factored in on 20 game-winning goals as a Tiger, scoring six and assisting on 14. His younger brother has either scored or helped set up the game winner in Colorado College's last seven victories dating back to the end of last season.

Junior right wing Scott Winkler made a beautiful pass to spring Rylan Schwartz for a 1-0 lead just 4:10 into Friday's victory. It was Winkler's fourth assist of the season.

CC out-shot Rensselaer, which got 30 saves from sophomore goalie Bryce Merriam, by a 34-25 margin. The struggling Engineers, who earned an NCAA tournament berth last spring, dropped to 1-5.