After skating to a 1-1 tie on Friday night in North Andover, No. 7 Lowell (3-0-2) and No. 19 Merrimack (2-0-2) saw similar results at Tsongas Center on Saturday, with the match again ending in a 1-1 draw.
After a scoreless first period, Merrimack finally drew first blood at 13:35 of the second. Jonathan Lashyn passed the puck to Justin Hassar in the high slot, and Hassar fired a shot and it was tipped by Brian Christie and over the shoulder of Kevin Boyle for the 1-0 lead.
Just a minute and six seconds after the Merrimack goal, Lowell struck back to tie the game at one. Joe Gambardella stole the puck in the corner and fed a pass into the slot for Michael Kapla, who ripped a shot under the glove of Collin Delia to knot the game at one.
With just under two minutes to play in the period, Merrimack was given a five-on-three advantage when Dylan Zink went off for slashing.
The River Hawks killed off the penalty despite a flurry of shots by the Warriors. Lowell coach Norm Bazin credited a gain of momentum after the penalty kill.
“I thought we gained a lot of energy from that five-on-three (power play) kill. We did a good job of containing the puck and generating zone-time, and I saw a lot of life in the third period and overtime.”
Despite the success on the penalty kill, Bazin notes that there is a lot of improvement to be made on special teams.
“We have a lot to improve on, and we have to dissect the power play to see where we can get better and see more production.”
After Adam Chapie was robbed by Collin Delia on a point-blank chance in the final minute of the third period, the game went to overtime.
In the extra period, the River Hawks carried the play, but failed to produce a winning goal despite incredible chances by AJ White and Adam Chapie. Time ran out and the game ended in a one-all draw.
Following the 21 save performance, Kevin Boyle gave credit to his teammates for allowing him to start the season with such success.
“My teammates are doing a great job allowing me to see the puck; makes my job a lot easier. I’ve got to give all the credit to them.”
Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy praised his team’s defensive effort as well as his goaltender, Collin Delia.
“I thought our guys did a good job of sacrificing their bodies and blocking shots. To hold a good team like that to less then 2- shots on back-to-back nights is positive. That and the play of Collin (Delia) I would say were two of our strong suits this weekend.”
