ORONO- Guillaume Richard scored a powerplay goal 23 seconds into overtime Saturday night, lifting #10 Providence College to a come from behind 4-3 win over #7 Maine in men’s Hockey East action at the Alfond Arena. The Friars overcame three one-goal deficits to send the Black Bears to their first loss at the Alfond this season.
Providence came out strong, as they did on Friday night when they had many chances they couldn’t capitalize on in a 2-1 loss. Maine freshman goaltender Albin Boija, in his third straight start, would come up big to keep the Friars off the board despite three or four Grade A chances in front of the netminder during the second powerplay of the opening 20 minutes for PC. The Black Bears would capitalize on their second extra man advantage, and it was the play of the Nadeau brothers that made it happen. After Brandon Chabrier lost control of the puck at the offensive blue line, it would pop loose possibly creating a shorthanded breakaway opportunity for Craig Needham. Bradly Nadeau made a dive at center ice to disrupt that, and Josh Nadeau took control of it. Josh dropped it off at the left point to Ben Poisson, who then found Bradly Nadeau who came back into the play into the high slot. Bradly took two strides, and then sent a tape to tape pass to Josh who one-timed it from the left faceoff circle into the back of the net past Philip Svedeback with 12.7 seconds left in the first period to make it 1-0 Maine.
Providence would tie it when a shot from the left point by Cam McDonald was deflected into the back of the cage by Jamie Engelbert at 5:18 of the second period. Maine put themselves into the same position they were in on Friday when Poisson converted on a powerplay, jamming home a rebound that was spit out by Svedeback of a Josh Nadeau shot from the right circle with just 35.5 seconds left in the middle stanza for a 2-1 Black Bears lead.
The Friars were resilient all night. They would tie it back up at the 9:54 mark of the third period, scoring their first powerplay goal of the weekend. Graham Gamache had his first attempt in the low slot blocked by Brandon Holt, but Holt couldn’t clear it and it came back to Gamache who fired it past Boija with just five seconds left on the extra man. In a game that was filled with penalties (16 total between the two teams), Brandon Chabrier gave Maine the lead once again with a powerplay goal just 1:07 later. Chabier walked to the top edge of the right faceoff circle, and fired a shot through traffic that squeezed past Svedeback just inside the left post. PC sent the game to overtime when Hudson Malinoski got to a loose puck and slammed it home at 15:27, after the Black Bears failed to clear it out in front of their own net. They got another powerplay 1:21 after the tying Malinoski marker, but couldn’t convert and Maine had the better chance shorthanded when Donovan Villeneuve-Houle and Ben Poisson had a 2 on 0 breakout. Villeneuve-Houle decided to pass at the last moment, but Poisson fanned on it and didn’t get much behind the shot that went wide. The most costly penalty happened seconds later when Liam Lesakowski was called for holding with 1:09 left in regulation. After Providence didn’t score in that 1:09, the 51 seconds of powerplay time carried over in the extra session and it didn’t take long for the Friars to send Maine to their first loss in Orono this season. Nick Poisson had possession in the high slot, sent it over to Malinoski in the left circle, who immediately returned it back to Poisson who was still standing in the high slot. Poisson then set up a one-timer for Richard who fired it in from the right circle 23 seconds into overtime to end it.
Bradly Nadeau was the leader in points in the loss for Maine with three assists. Ben Poisson and Josh Nadeau both had a goal and an assist. Boija made 28 saves. The Black Bears went 3-7 on the powerplay in falling to 18-6-2 and 10-5-1 in Hockey East. Malinoski had one goal and two assists in the win for Providence. Richard also had the game winning goal and one assist, while Svedeback stopped 22 shots in net. The Friars went 2-9 on the powerplay as they improve to 16-9-2 and 9-6-2 in the conference. Maine is back on the road next Friday and Saturday as they renew their rivalry with #17 UNH for a two game series at the Whittemore Center in Durham. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. both nights.
Recap/videos by Chris Lessner/Photos courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
