Oskar Komarov scored a game winning third period goal, while Josh Nadeau recorded his second hat trick of the season as Maine beat Merrimack 5-3 in men’s Hockey East action at Alfond Arena in Orono on Friday night.
Nadeau opened the scoring after a Warriors turnover at 15:01 of the first period, slamming one home from the low slot off a nice dish from Thomas Freel. He scored again at 18:29, this time shoveling it into the net beating goaltender Max Lundgren from the right hand side after a feed across to him from Brandon Holt on the left wing. After Mark Hillier got Merrimack on the board at 19:14, the lead for the Black Bears would go back to a pair on a marker from Sully Scholle at 8:02 of the second. Caelen Fitzpatrick (15:20 into the second) and Justin Gill (1:08 into the third period) would score the next two to tie it for Merrimack at 3-3. The game winner by Komarov came unassisted off another Warriors turnover in the low slot at 4:17 of the third. Lundgren got a piece of the shot with his glove but it would escape him, popping into the air and landing past the goal line. Nadeau capped off his hat trick with an empty net goal with 49 seconds left, as Maine snapped their four game winless streak.
Hillier and Gill each had one goal and one assist in the loss for Merrimack. Lundgren made 30 saves, and the Warriors went 0-2 on the powerplay in seeing their record drop to 15-14-1 and 8-11-1 in Hockey East. Nadeau also added an assist to his three goal night for Maine. The Black Bears went 0-4 on their powerplay opportunities. Scholle added one goal and two assists, Holt had two assists, while Mathis Rousseau stopped 19 shots in net. Maine is now 15-12-3 and 9-10-1 in league play. The teams finish off their two game series on Saturday at 7 p.m., which is Senior Night as Brandon Holt, Brandon Chabrier, Grayson Arnott, and Thomas Freel will be playing their final regular season game at Alfond Arena.
Photo courtesy of UMaine Athletics
