The Maine Black Bears negated a 2-0 deficit in the final 8:05 of the second period and pulled out a 3-2 win over rival New Hampshire in front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Alfond Arena Friday night. <\/p>\n
Maine junior center Robby Dee scored the game-winning goal 44 seconds into the third period in his return to the Black Bears’ lineup after missing four games and a pair of exhibitions with a foot injury. A faceoff in the UNH zone was won back to Dee at the right point, where he fired a snap shot past UNH senior goaltender Brian Foster. It was Dee’s ninth goal of the season. <\/p>\n
“Three weeks is a long time off the ice, especially mid-season,” Dee said. “I’m just happy that our team won tonight.” “We missed [Dee] in the lineup,” Maine junior center and captain Tanner House said. “He definitely added a spark for us.” <\/p>\n
The Black Bears handed UNH their fourth Hockey East Conference loss, while improving to 13-9-3 [10-6-2 Hockey East]. UNH fell to 13-9-4 [12-4-3 HEA]. The teams will play again Saturday at 7 p.m. <\/p>\n
Maine junior defenseman Jeff Dimmen scored the equalizer with 1:21 left before the second intermission, when he followed right wing Gustav Nyquist’s shot from the slot and buried the rebound. Nyquist contributed the primary assist on both second period goals. <\/p>\n
“That was huge, coming into the third all evened up,” House said. “That was probably the turning point in the game.” <\/p>\n
The Black Bears survived 32-seconds of a five-on-three power play with 2:24 left in the third period, and the ensuing five-on-four that lasted into the final minute. <\/p>\n
“I think the guys did a good job to stay composed,” House said. “Fortunately, we were able to calm it down, and get pucks out when we needed to.” <\/p>\n
Maine sophomore goaltender Scott Darling improved to 13-3-3 with a 28-save effort. The exclamation point came with a kick save on a short-handed try by UNH’s top offensive threat, senior right wing Bobby Butler, with less than five minutes remaining in the game. <\/p>\n
“He’s grown so much from last year,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “Just being able to re-capture that game. He was upset with himself on the first goal. He just fought back and found a way to make some huge stops.” <\/p>\n
Maine went to its most effective asset — the power play — to get on the scoreboard midway through the second period. House one-timed a pass from behind the net by sophomore right wing Gustav Nyquist to beat Foster at the doorstep. House is tied for the team lead with seven power-play goals. <\/p>\n
“I liked the fact that we certainly didn’t back down when we were down,” Whitehead said. <\/p>\n
Maine leads the nation in power play scoring percentage, converting at nearly a 30 percent clip. The Black Bears went one-for-five with the extra skater Friday, while UNH was shut out in three chances. <\/p>\n
Despite being outshot 11-7 in the opening period, the opportunistic Wildcats went into the locker room with a 1-0 lead on junior left wing Mike Sislo’s short-handed goal, five-minutes into the game. Less than a minute into Maine’s first power play, Sislo led a three-on-two breakout the opposite way, and his wrister from the right faceoff circle found twine over Darling’s glove. <\/p>\n
Junior center Phil DeSimone gave UNH a 2-0 lead at even-strength, 4:15 into the second period. Crafty stick work gave DeSimone room in the slot to snap a wrister into the top-right corner. <\/p>\n
“When we go up two, we should be able to hold it,” UNH defenseman Blake Kessel said. “We gave it up tonight.” Kessel assisted on both UNH goals. <\/p>\n
UNH senior goalie Brian Foster weathered Maine’s attack in the early stages of the game and took the loss, despite making 31 saves. He fell to 12-9-4. <\/p>\n
“I think we lost it,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “In the third period, it was a new game. They won it off the faceoff. We had our chances at the end and we didn’t get it done. They won it in the third period; we gave it away in the second.” <\/p>\n
UNH had won the previous five meetings between the teams played at Alfond Arena. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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