UConn blanks Maine, 2-0

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UConn men’s hockey blanked the Maine Black Bears in a 2-0 win at Alfond Arena on Friday night. After beating Northeastern by the same score last weekend, the Huskies recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time since sweeping Alabama Huntsville on Oct. 7-8, 2016.

The penalty kill starred with a 5-5 performance — two of which preserved a one-goal lead in the third period. The unit also made up for a rough night from the power play, which went 0-5.

Joey Muldowney and Ethan Gardula scored for UConn. Tyler Muszelik earned his third shutout of the year — second-most in a single season during the program’s Hockey East Era — by turning away all 31 shots from the hosts.

The Huskies had a chance to seize control early with a 1:57-long 5-on-3 but failed to capitalize, kicking off a rough night for the unit. From there, both sides killed a penalty to keep the game scoreless.

Muldowney eventually found the opener. The junior picked up the puck off a face-off and ripped a quick shot into the twine to give the Huskies a 1-0 advantage with 1:03 left in the opening period.

Early in the middle stanza, Muldowney nearly doubled the lead. The junior fired a shot that hit the crossbar and rolled across the goal line before being cleared. Even though both sides had two power plays in the period, UConn took that same one-goal lead into the final intermission.

Out of the break, Maine made a push. The Black Bears poured on the first seven attempts of the period, then had two opportunities to tie it on the power play. Despite the onslaught, the Huskies held strong and eventually extended the gap. Gardula jumped out of the penalty box and scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0 with 1:37 remaining.

The Black Bears pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with 2:28 to play but couldn’t mount a comeback bid. Jake Percival scored an empty-netter with 1.7 seconds left, only to have it waved off for offside. In the end, UConn walked out with a two-goal victory.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 17-7-3 and 11-5-1 in Hockey East. Next, they’ll go for the sweep when they wrap up the weekend series at Maine on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

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