The Maine Black Bears held a 2-0 lead very late into the second period Friday night, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie with UNH in Hockey East mens hockey action at Alfond Arena in Orono.
Maine took a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal from Patrick Holway at 3:25 of the first period, and doubled that to a 2-0 advantage when Daniel Perez netted his second of the year at 17:33 of the second.
Jason Salvaggio scored a big UNH goal to get the Wildcats on the board just before second intermission, scoring with just three seconds left on the clock.
Eric MacAdams converted on a two on one breakout for UNH just 1:08 into the third to even the score 2-2. UNH carried most of the third period play, but Maine freshman netminder Jeremy Swayman kept the ‘Cats out and sent the game to overtime.
UNH then outshot Maine 7-1 in the extra session, but again Swayman came up big and helped the Black Bears salvage a draw.
Cedric Lacroix and Patrick Shea had an assist each on the Perez goal. Salvaggio had an assist on the MacAdams goal for a two point night, and Max Gildon also scored two with a pair of assists. Swayman finished with 31 saves for Maine, while UNH Danny Tirone made 33 saves for the Cats. Neither team cashed in on the powerplay, as Maine was 0-4 and UNH 0-5. Maine is now 12-9-3, 6-6-2 in Hockey East. UNH goes to 9-11-3, 4-7-2.
The two teams finish off their two game series Saturday night with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
