Taylor Makar is on a heater for the University of Maine of late. The senior forward scored two goals in the third period Friday night, both of which tied the game, as the #5 Black Bears skated to a 3-3 men’s Hockey East tie with #7 Providence College at Schneider Arena in Providence, Rhode Island. Maine would take the extra conference point when Sully Scholle scored in the fourth round of the shootout.
Providence broke on top early on in the first period, and held a one goal lead on three different occasions on the evening. Guillaume Richard scored his first goal of the season at 2:23 when he drove to the net from the goal line and fired one from an odd angle from the low slot to the left that beat Maine goaltender Albin Boija up high on the stick side just inside the right post. The Black Bears had the answer very late in the period when Harrison Scott had two chances at a loose puck on the doorstep in front of Friars netminder Philip Svedeback, but was stopped both times. Frank Djurasevic glided into the low slot to get to it and swept it into the net with a backhander with Svedeback out of position with 27.3 seconds left.
Providence dominated the second period. The Friars had the first 11 shots on net in the stanza, and shortly after Andrew Centrella hit one off the crossbar behind Boija, Graham Gamache would give his team the lead. Gamache was all alone in front and got to a rebound, and would drag the puck from right to left after an attempted poke check by Boija to tuck it into the cage at 14:05. The hosts had a chance to extend their advantage with two powerplays at the 8:40 and 10:40 marks of the third period. After failing on their first man advantage, Makar turned the tables to tie it for Maine. Just nine seconds into the PC powerplay, the Black Bears quickly got the puck out of their own zone as Bodie Nobes found a streaking Makar near center ice. Makar broke in on Svedeback shorthanded and slammed it in glove side at 10:56 to make it 2-2.
On the same powerplay however, the Friars jumped back in front 3-2 just 1:34 later. After Maine failed to get the puck out, too much offensive zone time resulted in a tally by Hudson Malinoski at 12:30. The Black Bears would keep pushing to try to get back even, eventually pulling Boija for an extra attacker with 2:31 remaining in regulation. That is when Makar came through yet again. A one-timer through traffic from the left point by David Breazeale set up by Charlie Russell was kicked out by the pad of Svedeback, but Makar was in the perfect position in the right circle to fire in the rebound stick side inside the left post with 2:04 to go.
Maine dominated the chances in overtime (7-1 shots on goal), that included partial break-ins by Harrison Scott, Josh Nadeau, and Breazeale but the game officially ended in a tie. Scholle scored the only tally of the shootout in the fourth round, and Boija stopped all four Providence skaters as the guests earned the extra Hockey East point.
Along with the two huge goals from Makar, the Black Bears also got an assist each from Breazeale, Nobes, Scott, Nadeau, Russell, and Brandon Holt. Makar has now scored six times in his last four games, after going seven straight games without a goal. He is up to 12 goals on the season which is a career-high (previous high was 10 in 2022-23 with UMass). Boija made 29 saves, as Maine was outshot by an opponent for the first time this season (32-30). They also went 0-3 on the powerplay (0 for their last 18). Gamache and Malinoski each had a goal and two assists for Providence College. Svedeback stopped 27 shots. The Friars went 1-3 on the powerplay, as their record now sits at 16-6-5 and 6-5-5 in Hockey East. Maine is 17-5-4 and 9-3-4 in the conference. The teams finish off the two game series on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
Recap written by Chris Lessner/Video highlights courtesy of MaineIceHockey on X
