UConn men's hockey goes down to UVM, 4-1

UConn men’s hockey suffered a demoralizing defeat on Friday night, falling to the Vermont Catamounts 4-1 at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Huskies allowed three goals in the opening period and never recovered.

The offense remained anemic and would’ve worn a shutout for the second consecutive game and the third time this season if not for a consolation goal by Andrew Lucas with 2:53 left.

In goal, Arsenii Sergeev struggled. The first goal came off a mistake he made while playing the puck and he should’ve made a save on the second. Throughout the night, he allowed too many rebounds and never settled in.

The penalty kill provided the lone bright spot for UConn, putting up a 6-for-6 night.

The hosts led by three after the opening period. The first came seven minutes in when Sergeev misplayed a puck behind the net. The Catamounts jumped on the turnover but the Huskies nearly recovered and blocked the initial shots at the net. But Sergeev couldn’t cover the puck and it eventually slipped out to Henry Xavier, who finally scored.

It didn’t get much better for Sergeev. A few minutes later, Philip Tornqvist let a shot fly from the top of the circles and scored blocker-side low despite the net-minder having a clear view of the puck.

Vermont tagged on another goal in the final minute. As UConn’s second power play expired, Massimo Lombardi tried to spring Will Zapernick on a breakaway out of the box. Samu Salminen appeared to intercept the pass but he couldn’t corral the puck and it bounced into the Huskies’ defensive zone. Zapernick jumped on it, skated in free and scored to make it a 3-0 game at the first intermission.

While UConn held the deficit at three throughout the second period, it couldn’t cut into it either. The Huskies gave up three power plays in the middle stanza, which only limited their ability to mount a comeback. To make matters worse, Tristan Fraser committed a tripping penalty as the clock expired, so UConn started the final period down a man.

The Huskies never threatened a comeback. Vermont tagged on a fourth goal midway through the third and UConn didn’t get on the board until under three minutes remaining.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 3-5-1 on the season and 1-2-0 in Hockey East play. They’ll look to recover in the second game of the weekend on Saturday at 6 p.m. from Gutterson Fieldhouse.