UConn blanked in 1-0 loss to UMass Lowell

A sleepy and flat performance from UConn men’s hockey resulted in a 1-0 defeat to the No. 15 UMass Lowell River Hawks on Saturday night at the Tsongas Center. The Huskies had 31 shots on goal but never really threatened to score — in part because they put barely half their total attempts (60) on net.

The Huskies also struggled on special teams. The penalty kill allowed the lone goal while the power play went 0/3 on the night.

Callum Tung was a lone bright spot with another impressive performance in net. In just his second start, he stopped 25 of 26 shots and made a few tough saves to keep UConn in the game.

UMass Lowell scored first on a power play goal just six minutes in. Nick Anderson fired a shot from the blue line that Libor Nemec re-directed in front of goal to make it 1-0. The Huskies had a power play of their own later in the opening period but spent most of the time retrieving the puck and didn’t capitalize.

The second period didn’t feature much action and the score remained 1-0 in favor of the hosts entering the final 20 minutes.

UConn had a chance to tie the game with a power play midway through the third period but — as was the case with the offense at large — never threatened much. The Huskies then cut into their remaining time to make a comeback with a needless boarding penalty on Nick Carabin.

They killed it off then pulled the goalie with 2:33 remaining to get the extra skater. UConn had a few looks on net but never sustained much offense. UMass Lowell held the puck along the boards for the final 20 or so seconds to seal the result.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 7-6-1 overall and 4-5-1 in Hockey East. UConn will have next weekend off before closing the first half at Boston College on Wednesday, Dec. 4.