Poisson third period powerplay goal lifts Maine men’s hockey over Vermont

Published by %s
March 3, 2024

Ben Poisson scored a game winning third period powerplay goal on Saturday night, lifting the #9 Maine Black Bears to a 3-2 win over the Vermont Catamounts at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vermont in Hockey East men’s action. The win gives Maine the weekend split in their final regular season road game, as they now return home to complete that regular season with a two game series against the UMass Minutemen next weekend.

Maine never trailed, and took a 1-0 lead at the 7:14 mark of the first period. Nicholas Niemo found a loose puck in the low slot, moved in on Vermont goalie Thomas Carriere and went forehand to backhand and deposited it into the net.

Joel Maata tied it up for the Catamounts at 15:01 of the first. The Black Bears gave the hosts five powerplay chances in the second, but a shorthanded goal would give the guests the lead back. David Breazeale punched the puck from behind his own net and up the left wing to Thomas Freel. Freel skated in on a 2 on 1 near the left faceoff circle, and sent a pass across to Harrison Scott for a one-timer that found the back of the net from the right circle for a 2-1 advantage at 3:14.

Vermont on their fifth extra man chance of the stanza would finally capitalize to make it 2-2 on a goal from Timofei Spitserov at 11:30.

Maine got the game winner at 10:40 of the third period on the powerplay. Brandon Chabrier angled a pass to Lynden Breen at the edge of the right faceoff circle, and Breen fired one out in front of the net that was tipped in by Poisson stick side on Carriere just inside the far post.

The Catamounts pulled their netminder with just under a minute left, but couldn’t find the equalizer as the Black Bears escaped with an important road victory.

Parker Lindauer, Anthony Calafiore, Breazeale, Freel, Chabrier, and Breen had one assist each in the Maine win. Freshman goalie Albin Boija made 14 saves. The Black Bears went 1-3 on the powerplay in improving their record to 20-10-2 and 12-9-1 in Hockey East. Carriere stopped 22 shots in the loss for Vermont. The Catamounts finished 1-5 on the powerplay in falling to 13-16-3 and 7-12-3 in the conference. Maine moved back into third place in league play (38 points), two points better than UMass and Providence who each have 36 points. The Black Bears remain in ninth in the pairwise rankings, as they get set to host the Minutemen on Senior Weekend at Alfond Arena in Orono next Friday and Saturday. The scheduled puck drop on Friday is 8 p.m., while Saturday is at 7.

Recap by Chris Lessner/Photo by Anthony DelMonaco/Videos courtesy of Maine Ice Hockey on Twitter (X)

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