It was the same story for the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team against rival New Hampshire on Friday night.
The Wildcats’ Tyler Kelleher and Danny Tirone gave the Black Bears fits. Again.
Kelleher scored two goals and assisted on two others while Jason Salvaggio also had two goals and Tirone 33 saves as UNH skated to a 6-4 win over UMaine in a non-conference clash at Southern New Hampshire University Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The Wildcats swept the three-game season series from the Black Bears and improved to 9-7-2 on the season while UMaine fell to 7-10-3 and had its two-game winning streak snapped.
Kelleher had 10 points in three games this season against the Black Bears, who are 0-6-1 in their last seven games against UNH.
“Our team did a lot of good things,” UMaine coach Red Gendron said. “We played well but we needed to play better. “
“I don’t think we played a full 60 [minutes],” added Black Bears’ captain Cam Brown. “I just think we had some lapses and some breakdowns and that kind of cost us.”
Salvaggio buried a 2-on-1 chance just 28 seconds into the game, one-touching a perfect pass from Michael McNicholas. Ryan Smith put UMaine on the board less than a minute later.
Shane Eiserman would give the ’Cats the lead back on a shorthanded breakaway but Eric Schurhamer would tie it with his first of two power-play goals only 44 seconds into the second period.
Patrick Shea won a faceoff cleanly back to Schurhamer at the right circle and he blasted it past Tirone.
Kelleher’s first goal of the night would end Rob McGovern’s night, and the sophomore was pulled for Matt Morris after making eight saves on 11 shots.
After UNH’s Justin Fergona made it 4-2 at 15:50 off a UMaine turnover, Schurhamer’s second power-play goal of the night made it 4-3, but the Bears could not get the equalizer despite glaring chances in the final 20 minutes.
Blaine Byron had one of the best opportunities after being set up by Brown on an odd-man rush just after leaving the penalty box, but he made one move too many and his shot wound up hitting the side of the net.
“We need to score that goal or not give up a couple of others and that’s the bottom line,” said Gendron.
“Credit to [Tirone], he did really well,” Schurhamer said. “There were some times where we could’ve buried some. But he did a really good job.”
Shortly after that stop, the Salvaggio-Kelleher combination gave UNH its two-goal lead again, with Kelleher feeding Salvaggio with a backhanded pass from behind the net, which Salvaggio one-timed past Morris.
Kelleher sealed it with an empty-netter, and Pat Holway scored with nine seconds left to cap the scoring.
UMaine did a solid job on the forecheck and were 2-for-4 on the power play, but UNH cashed in on its high-percentage chances, which proved to be the difference.
“There were tons of good things and I’m all for the positives but we have to do whatever is required to get the result we want,” Gendron said. “We had great discipline, we executed on the power play and the penalty kill. Those are all positive things and will lead to victories if we stick with it.”
Morris wound up with 11 saves. UMaine had a 37-25 edge in shots.
Follow Ryan McLaughlin on Twitter at rmclaughlin23
