Third period explosion lifts UConn past Vermont, 5-2

With 15:45 left in the third period, UConn men’s hockey trailed the Vermont Catamounts 2-1. Less than 45 seconds later, the Huskies owned a 4-2 lead thanks to an explosion of goals — one from Tristan Fraser and a pair from Matthew Wood.

That stretch — along with an empty-netter from Jake Percival — powered UConn to a desperately-needed 5-2 victory to earn a weekend split with the Catamounts.

UVM outplayed the Huskies for the first 35 minutes of the game, winning seemingly every puck battle and out-working the visitors in every area of the ice. A pair of UConn turnovers in the defensive zone handed the hosts a well-deserved 2-0 lead midway through the second period.

But then UConn went on a 5-on-3 power play and the game changed. Samu Salminen got the Huskies on the board during the advantage and they dominated the final minutes of the second period.

They carried that level of play into the third and finally broke through when Fraser went top-shelf to tie the game at 2-2.

On the ensuing shift, Tom Messineo fired a shot from the blue line that came off UVM goalie Gabe Carriere’s pads and dropped in front of net, where Wood collected it and calmly tucked it in to give UConn its first lead of the weekend.

The sophomore wasn't done. Off the very next face-off, he collected the puck, charged into the zone and sent a toe-drag shot into the back of the net to double the Huskies’ advantage, 4-2.

UConn added an empty-netter with 1:02 remaining to secure the 5-2 victory.

The win improves the Huskies’ record to 4-5-1 and 2-2-0 in Hockey East. They’ll continue with league play next weekend when they take on Merrimack in a home-and-home, starting on Friday at Toscano Family Ice Forum.