Second period explosion carries UConn to 3-1 victory at LIU

UConn men’s hockey opened the new year by closing out a sweep of the LIU Sharks with a 3-0 victory at Northwell Health Ice Center on Saturday. The Huskies’ three goals all came in the first 7:09 of the second period courtesy of Ryan Tattle, Alexandre Blais and Carlin Dezainde.

Tyler Muszelik got within 2:07 of his second shutout of the season after coming up 3:43 short of one in the first game of the series. Still, the senior net-minder was nails between the pipes, stopping 27 of 28 shots.

UConn’s special teams had a good day as the power play went 1-3 while the penalty kill went 3-3 with plenty of shorthanded chances.

LIU took the initiative in the early going and kept the puck in its offensive zone for much of the opening period. The Huskies struggled defensively and let up plenty of dangerous chances but were bailed out by a few big saves from Muszelik.

UConn eventually grew into the game and started to assert itself in the final minutes of the opening frame. Still, the teams went into the first intermission locked at 0-0.

It didn’t take long for that to change once play resumed. 1:46 in, the Huskies scored the opener when Tattle buried a shot from the top of the circles with six seconds left on a power play. 2:08 later, Blais doubled the advantage. The freshman had his initial shot turned away but he stuck with it and eventually tucked it around the pads to make it 2-0.

UConn wasn’t done. A little more than three minutes later, LIU goaltender Daniel Duris turned the puck over while playing it behind the net. Before he could get back in position, Blais found Dezainde, who buried a shot into the open goal mouth. That put the Huskies ahead 3-0.

Midway through the period, UConn took back-to-back penalties, though that proved to be a boost for the offense. The Huskies generated four shorthanded breakaways, though it couldn’t bury any of them and the lead remained at three — a scoreline that held into the final intermission.

LIU finally found the back of the net with 2:07 left to play but it was too little, too late. After the Sharks pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, Joey Muldowney hit the post while Jake Richard had a point-blank shot blocked. UConn couldn’t find the empty-netter but still came away with a 3-1 victory.

The Huskies have now won four straight games with back-to-back sweeps and improves to 11-5-3 overall. Next, they’ll return to Hockey East play with a home-and-home against UMass Lowell beginning on Friday at Toscano Family Ice Forum.