ORONO- Taylor Makar capped off a three goal weekend for himself as he scored the game winner in the second period against his former team on Sunday evening, and Albin Boija came up with one of the best saves you’ll ever see with just under 30 seconds remaining to play in lifting #6 Maine past #20 UMass 3-2 in men’s Hockey East action at Alfond Arena.
Maine dominated most of the first period, outshooting UMass 8-1 over the first eight minutes. David Breazeale had a partial breakaway on Minutemen goaltender Michael Hrabel who came up with a save, and shortly after Oskar Komarov ripped a shot from the right circle that beat the netminder but rang off the post glove slide. The guests broke on top 1-0 at 8:25 on a beautiful assist by Ryan Lautenbach who was tied up along the boards but sent a no-look backhanded pass to an open Kenny Connors in the low slot who tucked it under the legs past Boija. Brandon Holt got the Black Bears even late in the stanza as he took two strides inside the blue line and took a shot from the high slot through traffic that beat Hrabel glove side pinging into the goal off the near post at 19:23.
Maine took the lead just 1:15 into the second period. Harrison Scott was able to keep the puck in the attacking zone after an attempted clear by UMass, and it came to Breazeale who had a 2 on 1 down low with Josh Nadeau. Breazeale made a tape to tape pass across the crease for an easy tap-in goal by Nadeau for a 2-1 advantage. The Minutemen took just 56 seconds to tie it back up, as Cole O’Hara converted past a sliding Boija from the left circle on a 3 on 1 breakout after a bad Black Bears line change at 2:11. Makar was in right place at the right time on the game winner at 11:43. Holt kept it in the zone and took a shot from the right wing. The attempt went off the stick of Komarov who was in the low slot to the right of Hrabel, and would deflect to Makar who chipped it over the goalie and into the cage. Makar now has 10 goals and 10 assists on the season in 25 games, after registering just four goals and five assists in 35 games played with UMass a season ago.
Both teams had additional chances in the third. Maine made two huge plays defensively to preserve the victory, starting with Brandon Chabrier who broke up a 2 on 1 UMass breakout with a diving backcheck with 2:18 remaining.
Boija then with the extra attacker on for the Minutemen with Hrabel pulled came up with perhaps the save of the year. The puck would come to Dans Locmelis to the left of Boija and with the netminder out of position, but somehow with Locmelis having a wide open net Boija would slide across his crease from right to left for an improbable glove save with just 28.6 seconds left.
The Black Bears then were able to run out the remaining seconds to hang on and pick up a huge six Hockey East points on the weekend.
Holt had one goal and one assist in the win for Maine. Breazeale, Komarov, Scott, and Frank Djurasevic each added one assist. The Black Bears went 0-6 on the powerplay (0 for their last 15). Boija made 24 saves, as his team snaps an eight game streak without scoring more than two goals against an opposing goalie. Hrabel made 28 stops in the loss for UMass, while Lautenbach, Larry Keenan, Lucas Mercuri, and Jack Musa had one assist each. The Minutemen went 0-3 on their powerplay opportunities and had their four game win streak snapped in falling to 14-11-2 and 5-8-2 in Hockey East. Maine is now 17-5-3 and 9-3-3 in league play and has a huge two game series on the road against Providence College next weekend. Game one is Friday at 7 p.m., while the finale is Saturday at 6 p.m. The Black Bears are currently in second in the conference standings, one point better than Boston University and three behind first place Boston College with BC having played one more Hockey East game than Maine to this point.
Highlight videos courtesy of MaineIceHockey on X/Recap and video of final seconds by Chris Lessner/Postgame video interviews courtesy of ‘Til the Rafters Ring (Dmitri Chambers)
