ORONO- Joey Muldowney scored a first period game winning goal, and Tyler Muszelik made 32 saves as #11 UConn shutout Maine 2-0 in men’s Hockey East action at a sold-out out Alfond Arena on Friday night.
The Black Bears made it tough on themselves in the first 2:10 of the first period, as they took a pair of penalties 11 seconds apart to give the Huskies a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:49. Maine despite giving up the first seven shots on goal would kill that off though and kept it scoreless. UConn would get all they would need late in the stanza however, as Ryan Tattle won a faceoff in the offensive zone that came to Muldowney in the right circle and Muldowney took one stride before firing it home past Mathis Rousseau inside the far post at 18:57.
Both teams had some good opportunities in the second period, with Rousseau coming up big for the Black Bears on one Huskies flurry near the front of the net that kept his team in the game. Maine had two powerplay opportunities in the third still down a goal, but couldn’t get themselves out of the powerplay woes (1 for their last 27). Near the end of the second powerplay, Jake Percival had a breakaway for UConn that was turned away by Rousseau. As the hosts headed back up the ice to try to make something happen, a shot by Loic Usereau was blocked and Tattle sent it up to Ethan Gardula who just came out of the box for another breakaway chance. Gardula would convert this breakaway at 9:23 by beating Rousseau five-hole. Maine would pull their netminder with 2:28 remaining but couldn’t get much done as they were shutout for the second time this season at home (1-0 to UNH on December 5). The Black Bears have only scored five goals in their last five home games in Hockey East play.
Tattle had two assists to lead the point getters in the win for UConn. Muszelik recorded his second straight shutout in net and his third of the season. The Huskies went 0-5 on the powerplay. UConn is now 10-1-1 on the road in improving to 17-7-3 and 11-5-1 in Hockey East. Josh Nadeau and Max Scott both had four shots on goal in the loss for Maine, as they outshot UConn 65-47 (32-20 on goal) including 22-10 on net after the first period but couldn’t solve Muszelik. Rousseau made 18 stops, and the Black Bears would also go 0-5 on the powerplay. Maine drops to 14-12-2 and 8-10-0 in league play. The teams finish off the series on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Black Bears will enter Saturday in eighth place in Hockey East, only three points ahead of the last place team in the conference.
