UConn sunk by UMass Lowell, 5-3

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UConn men’s hockey made a valiant third period comeback that ultimately came up short in a 5-3 loss to the UMass Lowell River Hawks at PeoplesBank Arena on Friday night.

The Huskies gave up three goals in the second period and trailed 4-1 at the final intermission, only to rally back within one with 2:12 left. That’s as close as they got, though. Even with the extra skater, they couldn’t find the tying goal before the visitors finished them off with an empty-netter in the dying seconds.

Tyler Muszelik started in goal for UConn but was replaced by Kam Hendrickson after the second period. Muszelik made some timely saves for the Huskies but only stopped 21 of 25 shots (an .840 save percentage).

Ethan Gardula, Joey Muldowney and Jake Richard scored for UConn. The Huskies’ special teams struggled as the penalty kill allowed two goals while the power play went 0-3. Five goals allowed is their highest total of the season.

UConn racked up four grade-A chances in the opening minute but couldn’t convert on any of them. Even though the Huskies jumped out to a fast start, UMass Lowell seized momentum by scoring the opener on an impressive tip-in.

Trailing 1-0, UConn got the first power play of the day but cut it 37 seconds short after an interference penalty on Trey Scott. Ultimately, that score held into the first intermission.

Early in the middle frame, the Huskies had a few golden chances to tie it. First, Ryan Tattle had a great look at the net on a 2v1 but couldn’t put a shot on target. After that, they failed to convert on a power play. Later, Tristan Fraser got in alone on goal but couldn’t bury the opportunity.

Finally, Gardula found the equalizer. Mike Murtagh won the puck behind the net thanks with a tenacious forecheck and got the puck to Gardula, whose shot was deflected but still went five-hole and in. That made it a 1-1 game.

From there, the Huskies fell apart. The River Hawks scored three goals in the final four minutes — two of which came on the power play — to take a commanding 4-1 lead into the third period.

Lowell re-took the lead after UConn committed back-to-back penalties. While the Huskies killed the first, the visitors capitalized on the second when the puck bounced over Muszelik and fluttered over the goal line.

53 seconds later, Luke Shipley blasted a slat shot through traffic that beat Muszelik inside the post. The River Hawks added their third in a row — and second on the power play — when UConn’s two defenseman let Jak Vaarwerk skate in unopposed and score.

The Huskies started the third period strong and scored just 1:02 in. A shot from Kai Janviriya bounced off Muldowney in front and ended up in the net to cut the deficit to 4-2.

UConn almost added another immediately after. Muldowney had a point-blank look denied by the pad while Kaden Shahan got in on a breakaway but couldn’t finish. The Huskies also had a power play come up empty.

Richard scored with 2:19 remaining to make it 4-3, though UConn couldn’t find the equalizer. The Huskies had two great looks on rebounds in the final minute but both were turned away.

UMass Lowell ultimately scored an empty-netter with 8.1 left to seal UConn’s fate.

With the loss, the Huskies drop to 11-6-3 overall and 7-4-1 in Hockey East. Next, they’ll look to salvage a split when they travel to Lowell for a 6 p.m. ET puck drop on Saturday.

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