ITHACA -- Four Cornell power-play goals, three Dartmouth 10-minute misconduct penalties, and two tallies from Blake Gallagher carried the fifth-ranked Big Red to a 5-1 victory in its ECAC Hockey opener Friday night at Lynah Rink.

Gallagher's first goal came just 2 minutes, 13 seconds into the game, when Brendon Nash ripped a shot from the right faceoff circle. Colin Greening tipped it to Gallagher, who was alone on the doorstep.

"I was just Johnny-on-the-Spot there to tap it in," Gallagher said.

Greening had two assists, and perhaps the most important goal of the evening. After Dartmouth's Evan Stephens was given a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct for hitting from behind, the Big Green appeared poised to kill the penalty.

But Riley Nash circled around the back of the net and found Greening along the right-wing boards, and Greening fired a rocket off Dartmouth goalie Jody O'Neill for a 2-0 lead 8:25 into the second period.

"It was tough because we worked so hard to battle and you get down to 17 seconds on a five-minute major and it hurts, no question about it," Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said. "That's a big momentum swing in terms of us getting out of there with the energy and then them finding a way to score a goal to go up 2-0. It's a tough one."

Exactly 40 seconds after Gallagher banged home another rebound for a three-goal lead, Cornell freshman John Esposito scored his first collegiate goal on a beautiful backhander.

The game turned ugly in the second period when the Big Green's Adam Estoclet laid a questionable hit on Cornell's Locke Jillson near the blue line, just outside of Dartmouth's zone with 8:32 left in the second. Jillson lay face down on the ice for a few minutes, was eventually helped off and did not return.

Cornell coach Mike Schafer said Jillson's status for Saturday's game against Harvard is uncertain. Each team was penalized six times for a combined 59 minutes in the second period.

"Our guys were pretty fired up on the bench about it," Schafer said. "To see the passion we had on the bench for one of their teammates getting hurt is understandable. I'm just glad it didn't cost us. ... I'm sure the league will take a look at it."

Brendon Nash scored Cornell's fifth goal -- and fourth power-play goal of the night -- when he snuck backdoor to the right post and got a quick pass from brother Riley Nash.

Brendon, like his teammates, was still steamed about Estoclet's hit on Jillson. Nash said he felt Jillson was hit in the head, and the sequence motivated Cornell.

"Locke was definitely in a vulnerable position, but it looked like the guy hit him in the head first," Nash said. "You definitely get emotional when you see a teammate go down like that. Everyone was able to keep everything intact for the most part. We definitely gained from it because we had something to prove then, and we definitely buried them and took it from there. That's not going to happen here."

Big Red goalie Ben Scrivens made 21 saves, and the only goal he allowed was off a deflection in front by Dartmouth's Peter Boldt that made it 4-1.

Notes: In other ECACH play, Colgate rallied to beat Harvard on Friday night, 5-4; St. Lawrence beat Princeton, 5-2; Quinnipiac topped Clarkson 4-2; RPI beat Yale 5-2; and Brown and Union played to a 3-3 tie.