UConn bounces back in "a gutsy and resilient win" over Maine

As UConn prepared to take the ice for the third period with the game all knotted at zeroes, Harrison Rees had a request for his teammates.

“‘I want to hear Brass Bonanza,’” head coach Mike Cavanaugh relayed. “‘The place is gonna go nuts if we hear it.’”

It took 22 seconds for him to get his wish. Tabor Heaslip stole a puck below the dots, took it behind the goal, and sent a back-handed shot rolling up and over Maine goalie Albin Boija’s shoulder to put UConn up 1-0.

Brass Bonanza blared over the loudspeakers and the 9,428 people in the XL Center — the largest home crowd in UConn men’s hockey’s history — roared.

The Huskies kept them going. Four minutes later, Joey Muldowney doubled the lead and whipped the crowd into even more of a frenzy.

“We score on the first shift, and then Muldowney gets one and then the crowd really gets into it,” Cavanaugh said. “I was glad we were able to get a couple because we were able to utilize those 9,400 people tonight.”

Those two goals proved to be enough for UConn to secure a much-needed victory over the No. 7 Maine Black Bears on Saturday night — something which didn’t look likely after the first period.

The Huskies came out flat and slow, allowing Maine to control play for most of the opening 20 minutes.

UConn didn’t manage its first shot on goal until 12:39 in — and even that was just a dump-in that ended up on the net. The Huskies had just two shots in the first period while the Black Bears put up 13.

Considering the way it lost on Friday night, UConn looked dead in the water.

While UConn had a rough experience in last night’s loss, the Huskies also needed time to settle in after a last-minute lineup change.

Hudson Schandor dressed for warm-ups but ultimately didn’t play due to an upper-body injury sustained in Friday night’s game.

Oliver Flynn took Schandor’s spot on the bench, Samu Salminen moved from extra skater into the third line as center while Matthew Wood had to slide from wing to center — a position he hasn’t played since early in the season.

On top of that, UConn had to make do on the blue line without Jake Flynn due to a lower-body injury, also from Friday. That meant the Huskies had to rely on sophomore Jack Pascucci and freshman Owen Simpson among the defenseman corps.

“We didn't really find out until warm-ups that [Schandor] wasn't going to go and we were scrambling and changing lines,” Cavanaugh said.

But as they went to the locker room for the first intermission, the scoreline remained 0-0. That gave the Huskies the boost they needed.

“You don't get points for shots, so let's go out and play a good second period,” Cavanaugh said about the conversation in the locker room.

UConn flipped the game on its head in the middle stanza with a 12-3 edge in shots, but the score remained 0-0 after 40 minutes. Still, the Huskies felt good about their chances.

“There was certainly a lot more energy in our locker room after the second period,” Cavanaugh said.

At the same time, UConn wanted to make up for last night’s collapse. After taking a 2-0 lead into the final period on Friday night before eventually going down 5-3, the Huskies wanted to prove they could finish strong.

“We had talked about how we wanted to lead in the third period tonight because sometimes those thoughts creep into your head that, ‘Oh, we can't close games out.’ Which isn't true because we have closed games out,” Cavanaugh said. “I told them before the game that if we have a lead in the third period, we're gonna find a way to close this game out.”

And that’s what they did. UConn’s final 15 minutes were a clinic in how to play with a lead in the third period.

“We didn't turn any pucks over the blue line. We got pucks deep,” Cavanaugh said. “We did a really good job of limiting grade-A opportunities, keeping shots to the outside.”

The Huskies also avoided their typical third-period penalties and let Maine make the mistake. With less than a minute left, Chase Bradley drew a penalty which forced the Black Bears to pull their goalie just to play 5-on-5 hockey. That all but sealed the victory.

“I thought it was a pretty gutsy and resilient win,” Cavanaugh said. “The way that first period went, I was really proud of how we didn't let that dictate the rest of the game.”

Sergeev’s shutout

Over two months had passed since Arsenii Sergeev last took the ice for UConn. That night, Nov. 10, he let up two bad goals and got yanked after 40 minutes in an eventual 6-3 defeat to Merrimack. After that, the Huskies rode Ethan Haider for the next nine games.

But coming off a quick turnaround from a 7 p.m. start on Friday to a 3 p.m. game on Saturday, Cavanaugh felt the time was right to give Sergeev another chance.

“I consulted with Vince (Stalletti), our goaltending coach, and he thought it would be a good time to get Arsenii back in and I agreed with him,” the coach explained. “He has a really good feel and a pulse of the goaltenders and he was right.”

Sergeev stopped all 25 shots that came his way to record his first collegiate shutout. UConn now has three shutouts on the year, the most in any season since 2016-17, when Rob Nichols and Adam Huska combined for the same number.

As impressive as the shoutout was, Sergeev passed the eye test with flying colors. While he can sometimes flail and rely too much on his athleticism between the pipes, the sophomore played a clean, efficient game. He rarely ended up out of position and limited the second chances around the net.

Sergeev played a steady game, which he hasn’t always done. If he can continue to perform like that, UConn could get back to a rotation for the goalies.