ORONO- A night after Vermont was blanked 7-0 in game one of a two game men’s Hockey East series at Alfond Arena, the Catamounts were able to capitalize on a Maine error in the third period to score the game winning goal and salvage a split with a 2-1 upset win on Saturday over the #8 Black Bears.
Much like Friday night, the visitors from UVM had the better chances and carried alot of the play in the first period. Unlike Friday though, they were able to score the first goal. After Maine goaltender Albin Boija couldn’t control a rebound, it came onto the stick of Max Strand in the low slot and he buried it on the powerplay at 9:02 on assists from Cedrick Guindon and Colin Kessler. The Black Bears finally evened it up in the second, as Will Gerrior notched his second goal of the season. The freshman picked up a loose puck near center ice and went in on a partial breakaway, making a phenomenal move on Catamounts netminder Alex Mangbo, going forehand to backhand glove side tucking it just under the left pad at 14:44 to make it 1-1.
Vermont came up with the game winner early in the third period. After a Josh Nadeau turnover in the offensive zone, the Catamounts went on a 3 on 2 breakout the other way. Dawson Good skated into the zone on the right wing, and then went cross ice to find Daniel Sambuco who beat Boija glove side just inside the far post with a wristshot from the left circle at 1:29. Maine pushed hard over the final 20 minutes (19 shots on goal in the third period) with many close calls, including quite a few with Boija on the bench for an extra attacker with 2:07 remaining but couldn’t come up with the equalizer in falling for the second time at home in this early season.
Mangbo made 35 saves in the Vermont win, before leaving after re-aggravating an injury with 5:12 left in the game. Aiden Wright made eight stops in relief, as the Catamounts improved to 4-6 and 2-4 in Hockey East. Boija made 26 saves in the Maine loss, while Lukas Peterson had one assist on the goal by Gerrior. The Black Bears went 0-3 on the powerplay. Maine sees their record drop to 7-4-1 and 4-2-0 in conference play, as they will travel to Chestnut Hill next weekend to take on the Boston College Eagles for a two game series on Friday and Saturday. Faceoff from Conte Forum is slated for 7 p.m. both nights.
