The Maine Black Bears took an early two goal lead, but couldn’t hold it as the University of Connecticut Huskies rallied for a 3-2 men’s Hockey East win at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut Wednesday night.
Jakub Sirota put Maine up top first when he scored a powerplay goal at 12:33 of the first period. 1:05 later Tim Doherty made it 2-0 Black Bears, but that was the end of the scoring on the night for Maine. Carter Turnbull put UConn on the board at 18:56 to cut the lead in half, and then the Huskies tied it when Alexander Payusov took advantage of a Black Bear turnover in their own zone and made it 2-2 at 3:25 of the second. Vladislav Firstov got the game winner at 6:52 of the third to give UConn their first lead of the night. Maine had many chances to tie the score in the third period, including pulling goaltender Jeremy Swayman with just over two minutes left but couldn’t find the equalizer despite putting 39 shots on goal.
Swayman made 23 saves in the loss for Maine, who drops to 10-9-4, 4-7-2 in Hockey East. Mitchell Fossier, Eduards Tralmaks, Ben Poisson, and Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup all had assists for the Bears. Tomas Vomacka made 37 saves in the win for UConn. The Huskies improve to 8-10-4, 5-7-2. Maine visits #4 Boston College next Friday and Saturday night 1/24 and 1/25.
