UConn men's hockey hangs for 2-1 win over No. 17 UNH

UConn men’s hockey survived a late onslaught of shots to pull out a 2-1 win over the No. 17 New Hampshire Wildcats at Whittemore Center Arena on Sunday.

The Huskies took a 2-0 lead into the third period courtesy of goals from Ryan Tattle and Chase Bradley but earned the win in the defensive zone. New Hampshire cut the deficit in half with 6:14 remaining, but UConn parked the bus and turned away wave after wave of attack from the hosts.

The Huskies should’ve put the game away moments after the Wildcats pulled the goalie with 2:17 left when Tattle had a clear shot on the empty net from the top of the circle, but his attempt went just wide of net. After that, UConn didn’t get the puck out of the defensive zone again until Bradley laid out to get a clearance.

Despite 13 shots from New Hampshire in the final period, UConn was able to weather the storm and held on for the victory.

Arsenii Sergeev was spectacular in goal, stopping 43 of 44 shots that came his way. Overall, New Hampshire had 78 attempts to UConn’s 45.

The Huskies got started on the wrong foot when Hudson Schandor got ejected for a major kneeing penalty and game misconduct just 3:16 in. That sent them on a five-minute penalty kill that could’ve put them in a deep hole right away.

Instead, the PK unit held strong for four minutes before the Wildcats took a penalty of their own that ended the advantage. UConn wasn’t totally out of the woods, though. Just before the initial penalty expired, Harrison Rees went to the box for high-sticking which meant the Huskies had to kill another penalty.

Again, the unit stepped up to the task and kept the scoreline even.

Despite such a bad start, UConn nearly went ahead in the first period. Samu Salminen ripped a shot off the rush that bounced over the goalie and landed on the goal line, only for a New Hampshire defenseman to clear it before it crossed over.

The Huskies eventually scored first — they just needed to wait until the second period. Tattle skated towards the net with speed, made a pretty toe drag move and ripped a shot glove side to put the visitors up 1-0 just 96 seconds into the period.

A hooking penalty against Salminen put UConn back on the kill, but it came up big again.

The lead increased to 2-0 courtesy of some pretty passing by the Huskies. Jake Richard dished a no-look pass to Tristan Fraser, who spun and found Bradley in front of the net. The junior didn’t miss and UConn doubled its lead.

Soon after, the Huskies had a chance to extend the advantage with their first power play of the day, but they didn’t convert. Still, they went into the second intermission up 2-0.

UConn had opportunities to put the game away in the third — the best of which came on a power play — but it couldn’t finish. The Wildcats had an advantage of their own as well, but they didn’t capitalize either.

Finally, New Hampshire got on the board with 6:14 remaining. Jack Pascucci attempted a clearance, but the puck hit a skate and found Kristaps Skrastins, who went bar-down to make it a 2-1 game.

From there, the Huskies defense buckled down to pull out the victory.

With the win, UConn earns a split on the weekend and improves to 10-11-2 overall and 6-8-1 in Hockey East play. Next, the Huskies will get ready for CT Ice, starting with Sacred Heart on Friday.