Ben Poisson tipped in a Luke Antonacci shot 3:26 into overtime on Sunday afternoon, lifting the Maine Black Bears to a come from behind 3-2 men’s Hockey East victory over #15 Merrimack College at Alfond Arena in Orono. Maine got it to overtime on the heroics of Lynden Breen who scored twice shorthanded on the same Merrimack powerplay in the third period.
Merrimack, coming off two straight losses to Vermont and then UNH on Friday, got off to a quick start in the first period as Alex Jefferies found himself open in the low slot and took a pass from Matt Copponi and fired one past Maine goalie Victor Ostman at 1:25. The Warriors really started to carry play over the late stages of the first and had the only two powerplay opportunities, but settled for the 1-0 edge at the intermission.
Maine got more pressure in the second period, including two powerplays but came up empty. Merrimack also had two powerplays of their own, but the defense and the play of Ostman kept it to the one goal deficit. The Black Bears best chance of the period came on a breakaway by Didrik Henbrandt with 1:45 left, right after a powerplay ended for their opponents. Henbrandt though couldn’t get enough speed going or enough space from the Warriors defenseman to get off a good shot which was turned aside by netminder Hugo Ollas. A late penalty on Grayson Arnott of Maine for tripping with 0.7 seconds remaining would give the guests pretty much a full two minute man advantage to begin the third, their fifth powerplay of the afternoon.
Maine was able to kill that off but later in the third 55 seconds after a Black Bears powerplay expired, Ryan Leibold tallied on a 3 on 1 breakout to make it 2-0 Merrimack at 7:53. The hosts then went shorthanded again 1:22 later, but that is when Breen stepped up huge shorthanded. Breen scored on a 2 on 1 breakout just 11 seconds into the penalty kill, taking a pass from Poisson and one-timing it stick side past Ollas. 53 seconds later on the same shorthanded situation, he sent the Alfond into hysterics as a clearing pass from Arnott from behind his own net found its way around the boards and onto the stick of Breen at center ice as he went in all alone on Ollas. The wristshot stick side tied it up 2-2, and Ostman also got an assist on the play. The Warriors with 6:26 remaining got the benefit of yet another Maine penalty, this time a five minute major for contact to the head by Brandon Chabrier. Merrimack had some good looks to try to take the lead including a rebound that came to an open Filip Forsmark to the left of Ostman that he couldn’t bat out of the air with 3:25 left, and 15 seconds later Zach Bookman hit the post as MC finished the game 0-7 on the extra man. Henbrandt had a partial breakaway after that powerplay expired with 1:12 to go, but shot it over the net and 32 seconds later had a rebound opportunity that he shot wide as the game went to the extra five minute session. Christian Felton got one of the best opportunities for Merrimack 54 seconds into overtime, getting past Jakub Sirota for a break-in but was turned away by Ostman. The game winner was scored as Maine controlled the puck in the offensive end, as Antonacci got the puck just inside the left point off a pass from Breen and was wide open as he took two strides to the left faceoff dot and let a wrister go that Poisson tipped in from the front of the net to the glove side of Ollas to end it.
Breen had two goals and one assist, while Poisson had one goal and one assist in the Maine win. Antonacci, Arnott, David Breazeale, and Ostman added one assist each. Ostman made 30 saves, as the Black Bears improve to 12-13-2 overall and 6-9-1 in Hockey East. Ollas stopped 25 shots in the loss for Merrimack, who falls for the third straight time dropping to 16-12-1, 11-8-0. The Warriors, who beat Maine twice at home in November, was seeking their first regular season sweep over the Bears in school history. Maine is back in action next weekend as they travel to Boston College for 7 p.m. faceoff on Friday, before taking on UMass-Lowell at Tsongas Arena on Sunday afternoon at 2:05.
Recap by Chris Lessner
Photo is courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco- The Maine Black Bears celebrate a goal during a 5-3 loss to #3 Boston University on Friday, February 3. Maine came back to defeat #15 Merrimack on Sunday afternoon 3-2 in overtime
