ORONO, Maine — When you’ve won only one of your last 14 games dating back to last season (1-12-1) and a fluke goal erases your lead in the third period, another loss appears forthcoming.
But the University of Maine Black Bears rebounded from Andrew Rowe’s goal, scored from deep in the corner, and Maine sophomore right wing Gustav Nyquist broke a 3-3 tie on the power play with 1:39 left as Maine outlasted Michigan State for a 5-3 men’s hockey win Saturday night at Alfond Arena.
“It was great to see that the guys didn’t get deflated and quit after that fluky goal,” said sophomore left wing Brian Flynn, who had staked Maine (1-3) to a 3-2 lead late in the second period. “We started playing better and playing harder after that [Rowe] goal. We kept moving our feet and drawing penalties which ended up winning us the game on our power play.”
After allowing 16 Grade-A (high-percentage) chances through the first two periods, including several off odd-man rushes (3-on-2s, 2-on-1s), Maine limited Michigan State (3-1) to just one Grade-A chance in the third period while creating six of its own.
“This shows how much we wanted this win. There’s no way we were going to start the season 0-4,” said sophomore goalie Scott Darling, who finished with 24 saves, including 12 of the Grade-A variety. “This is huge for us. We’ve got a lot of heart on this team.”
Darling was also relieved that Rowe’s centering pass, which glanced in off his skate, didn’t prove costly.
“Thank God we won,” he said.
“They definitely showed a lot of character coming back after we scored that tying goal,” said MSU sophomore goalie Drew Palmisano. “And their crowd gave them a little momentum and helped them down the stretch.”
Nyquist’s game-winner, his fourth goal in the last three games, came off a screened snap shot in the circle to the left of Palmisano.
He wheeled off the boards and found some rare open space.
“They had done a great job blocking shots and I hadn’t been able to find an open seam. At the end, I found one. It felt great,” said Nyquist. “Both [David deKastrozza and Robby Dee] were in front of the goalie and I don’t think he saw anything. I saw an open spot, short side.”
“I didn’t really see it,” said Palmisano. “There were a bunch of bodies there. He went low to the glove side.”
MSU coach Rick Comley added, “We had a forward on [Nyquist] but he just didn’t block his shot. The kid made a nice shot and it got through.”
Dee and Will O’Neill picked up assists on the game-winner.
Kevin Swallow added a clinching empty-netter with a full-length dive to poke the puck home with 1:16 remaining.
“This was definitely our best game of the year,” said Maine senior center deKastrozza, whose shorthanded goal tied the game 1-1 in the first period. “We kept things simple, got the puck deep [into the offensive zone] and got a lot of shots through to the net.”
Maine coach Tim Whitehead added, “This was a great team win. I was proud of how the guys competed.”
Corey Tropp’s fourth goal of the series — he had a hat trick in Friday night’s 5-3 win — staked MSU to a 1-0 lead as he wristed a deflected pass into the half-empty net on the power play.
DeKastrozza tied it with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that was misplayed by Palmisano.
Spencer Abbott beat Palmisano to the glove side with a wrister from the middle of the slot 1:40 into the second period but Mike Merrifield equalized 2:24 later when he was parked to Darling’s right and flipped a 12-footer into the short side.
Flynn broke the tie when he finished off a pretty passing sequence on the power play involving freshmen Matt Mangene and Adam Shemansky. Flynn slid a 15-footer back against the grain past the right left of Palmisano.
Palmisano finished with 20 saves including six Grade-A’s.
Shemansky, Mangene and Mike Banwell had two assists each and Swallow had an assist to go with his goal.
Tropp had an assist to go with his goal.
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