UConn battles back to claim OT victory over UMass Lowell, 5-4

UConn men’s hockey appeared to be on its way towards a repeat of Friday night. The Huskies lost a two-score lead, gave up the tying goal on a turnover deep in their own zone then fell behind in the third period when an opposing forward finished a hat trick.

But after falling 5-4 to UMass the previous game, UConn battled back with a late tying goal then scored the winner in overtime to beat UMass Lowell, 5-4. Hudson Schandor recorded the final two goals and added a pair of assists for a four-point night. Ryan Tattle, Ethan Gardula and Joey Muldowney also found the back of the net for the Huskies.

UConn’s power play went 2-4 — including the OT winner — while the penalty kill had a 2-3 day. In goal, Callum Tung stopped 33 of 37 shots and earned the win.

Despite blowing a third period lead the night prior, the Huskies came out slow on Saturday. UMass Lowell took a 1-0 lead on the power play but even at full strength, UConn didn’t have much of the puck.

Then the Huskies got their first man-advantage of the day and the momentum flipped. Jake Richard fired a shot on net that bounced right to Tattle, who buried the rebound. 1:06 later, UConn struck again. Gardula, who rang the post earlier in the period, snuck a shot near-side high to put the Huskies ahead, 2-1.

They had a chance to add to the lead with another power play just after Gardula’s goal but ended it 23 seconds in with a penalty of their own.

UConn soon tallied another in the second period. As the Huskies entered the zone, Muldowney settled a saucer pass at the face-off dot then ripped a snipe into the near-side top corner to make it 3-1.

UConn couldn’t keep it going, though. 1:59 after Muldowney found the back of the net, UMass Lowell answered back to cut the deficit in half. 3:14 later, the Huskies turned the puck over at the face-off dot and Dillan Bentley beat Tung blocker-side to even the score at 3-3. It remained tied entering the the third period.

The River Hawks kept the pressure on after the intermission. They racked up the first 11 shots of the stanza and then took the lead when Bentley walked UConn’s defense for his third goal of the day with 10:54 remaining.

Unlike Friday night, the Huskies didn’t go down without a fight. Schandor re-directed a shot from Tom Messineo into the back of the net to tie the game at 4-4 with 4:44 to go. Moments later, UConn nearly took the lead when a shot from the point ended up loose in the crease but UMass Lowell cleared it just in time.

The Huskies cranked up the pressure in the final minutes but couldn’t find a winner, which sent the contest to overtime.

The River Hawks had chances to claim the victory in the extra period, hitting the crossbar early before getting denied by Tung on a breakaway. Then they got caught with too many men on the ice, which sent UConn on the power play with 1:40 remaining in overtime.

After retrieving the puck down their end a few times, Richard found Schandor on the back post and the captain blasted a one-timer into the back of the net with 28.0 seconds left to give the Huskies the victory.

UConn snaps a three game winless streak and improves to 15-10-3 overall and 8-8-3 in Hockey East. Next, the Huskies will wrap up non-conference play against Alaska Anchorage on Wednesday before getting the weekend off.