The University of New Hampshire Wildcats scored three third period goals Friday night to break open a close game, and beat the Maine Black Bears 5-1 in Hockey East action at the Whittemore Center in Durham, New Hampshire before 6,501 fans.
Freshman Mitchell Fossier had staked Maine to a 1-0 advantage in the first period with a powerplay goal at the 13:08 mark.
Maine held the one goal lead until Tyler Kelleher tied it 1-1 on the powerplay at 6:23 of the second. Kelleher skated past the Maine defense on another UNH powerplay 8:31 later, and stuffed one past Black Bear goalie Rob McGovern to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Freshman Brandon Van Riemsdyk scored 2:42 into the third to extend the lead to 3-1. Jason Salvaggio and Cameron Marks scored 1:07 apart later in the third to put the game away, and keep Maine winless on the road this season. Rob McGovern made 21 saves in the Bears net, and was replaced by Matt Morris after the fourth Wildcat goal. Morris made two saves on three shots. Danny Tirone stopped 23 of 24 Maine shots to earn the win in the UNH net. Maine drops to 5-8-3 overall and 1-5-1 in Hockey East. UNH is now 7-6-2 and 4-1-1.
The two teams will finish off the two game home and home series Saturday night in Orono at Alfond Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
UME (5-8-3) 1 0 0- 1
UNH (7-6-2) 0 2 3- 5
Shots on goal- Maine 24 UNH 28
Powerplay- Maine 1-2 UNH 2-5
Length of game- 2 hours, 10 minutes
