Benjamin Freeman scored a third period game winning goal on Friday night, as the University of Connecticut Huskies defeated the #17 Maine Black Bears 3-2 in men’s Hockey East action at the Alfond Arena in Orono.
UConn (11-13-4, 9-7-2 Hockey East) quieted the home crowd early on. Jake Flynn and Alexander Payusov both scored first period goals at 4:31 and 10:23 to give the visitors a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Huskies outshot the Black Bears 23-9 in the first. Tim Doherty woke the crowd up when he scored on the powerplay at 8:00 of the second, and then Maine made it a new game when Sam Rennaker scored at 11:53 for the equalizer to make it 2-2. The Black Bears had an early chance in the third period on the powerplay, but couldn’t convert. The Huskies got the game winner from Freeman at 10:39. Maine had another chance late with a powerplay chance, but couldn’t find the equalizer this time. The loss ends a Black Bears five game win streak, and also ends the unbeaten streak at home losing for the first time this season at the Alfond (10-1-2). Maine is now in a fourth place tie in the league with UConn with 20 points.
Goalie Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves in the Maine loss. Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi, Mitchell Fossier, Eduards Tralmaks and Jakub Sirota all had assists, as the Black Bears drop to 15-10-4, 9-8-2. Tomas Vomacka made 24 saves in the UConn win. The Black Bears were 1-3 on the powerplay, while UConn went 0-2. The two teams battle in the second game of the series on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
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