The University of Maine’s nine-game unbeaten streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore goalie Arsenii Sergeev made 27 saves for his first career shutout and the University of Connecticut Huskies received early third-period goals from sophomore center Tabor Heaslip and freshman right wing Joey Muldowney to beat the seventh-ranked Black Bears 2-0 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
UMaine had rallied to top UConn 5-3 on Friday night with five third-period goals.
UConn, which dropped two of three to the Black Bears this season including a 7-3 setback in Orono on Dec. 3, improved to 9-10-2 overall and 5-7-1 in Hockey East.
UMaine had gone 8-0-1 in its last nine games and hadn’t lost since a 5-4 loss at Boston University on Nov. 18. The Black Bears are now 14-4-2 overall, 6-3-1 in Hockey East.
It was the first time UMaine had been shut out this season and the first time since a scoreless tie at New Hampshire last Feb. 18.
Heaslip scored his first goal of the season just 22 seconds into the third period as he wheeled around the net and beat UMaine freshman goalie Albin Boija with a wraparound backhander that rolled up over Boija’s shoulder on the near post..
Muldowney expanded the lead at the 4:15 mark when he sprinted to the net and directed a pass from the corner by Tristan Fraser into the short side corner from just below the bottom of the left faceoff circle. It was his second of the season.
The Huskies supported their goalie by blocking 15 UMaine shots. Boija finished with 17 saves while absorbing his first loss.
UMaine outshot UConn 13-2 in the first period but couldn’t capitalize on its dominance. UConn had a 12-3 edge in the middle period but couldn’t take advantage.
UMaine had an 11-5 edge in the third period, but the Huskies scored on two of their five shots.
“They played with more desperation than we did,” said UMaine head coch Ben Barr. “We had plenty of good looks. But we didn’t do a great job at their net front. We weren’t getting any rebounds and that was the difference.”
UMaine will return to Alfond Arena for a pair of Hockey East games against UMass Lowell on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.
UConn will host New Hampshire at the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs on Friday at 7 p.m. before traveling to UNH for a Sunday contest at 4 a.m.
