CANTLON: (FRI) HUSKIES KNOCK OFF EAGLES 5-3 

CANTLON: (FRI) Huskies Knock Off Eagles 5-3

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BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – It was a playoff hockey-like atmosphere at the XL Center Friday night as a rabid, white-towel-waving crowd of 5,914 watched their UConn Huskies (12-16-12 overall, 9-11-1 HEA) on the strength of two goals from Corey Ronan were able to knock off the Boston College Eagles (13-11-3 overall, 13-6-0 HEA) by the score of 5-3.

The UConn win was their first over BC since 2014 when they beat the Eagles 1-0 in their initial Hockey East meeting when Evan Richardson provided the lone goal.

The Huskies need to keep winning to solidify their position in the Hockey East playoffs with a short schedule in the final month of the season. The win leaves UConn in seventh place, just two points behind Maine, who were 4-3 overtime winners over Merrimack.

The Huskies have three conference meetings left. They’ll play Northeastern, Boston University, and UMASS-Amherst in that order with the last two games at home. They can finish no lower than eighth in order to earn home ice in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs.

“We’re very happy with this win. We came out and played excellent at the start, but after BC scored we were flat for the rest of the period. In the second, there were a lot of penalties. We did a very good job of killing penalties and Max (Kalter) got us a big goal and we played very well in the third period,” UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh stated.

The Huskies poured on the shots early in the third period and the pressure got them a powerplay. Philip Nyberg was stationed at the right point, fired and was stopped by a left pad. That was followed by Sasha Payusov missing a golden chance on the doorstep and then they took an unwarranted offensive zone tripping penalty nullifying the powerplay.

Then with six seconds left in four-on-four play, the Huskies found the two-goal lead they were seeking.

Corey Ronan was in the left wing circle and with a very small opening to the short-side drilled his second of the night and fourth of the season at 5:39.

“I saw him shoot it and when I didn’t hear it hit the glass I thought, ‘Hey, that might have gone in.’ Then I heard the crowd roar. He’s been a little bit snake-bitten,” Cavanaugh said. “He gives a competitive effort night-in and night-out that we feed off. He might not be a 25-goal scorer for us, but you win with guys like Corey and Max, the two kids who that were up here (for the post-game press conference). I was really happy for him to get a couple of goals for us.”

Ronan put it succinctly. “Anytime you get a win in this league it’s important. The first two periods were a bit of a mess and we played some of our best hockey in the third (period).”

The Eagles kept pace with UCONN and got their third goal with 6:34 left. A broken play inside the Huskies’ zone and the loose puck found its way to JD Dudek’s stick. He blistered a short slapper from 30-feet out. The puck sailed over the glove of Tanner Creel who reacted late because of a screen in front of him. For Dudek, who had a hat-trick here last year, it was just his fifth of the season.

With the game tightened, Creel came up with a giant save on BC’s Casey Carreau, who was open on the left wing with 3:52 remaining. Creel, whose play is unorthodox, came out and challenged the shooter, made the save and ensured there was no rebound.

“He doesn’t make that save, it’s 4-4,” said Cavanaugh of senior netminder’s efforts.

The Huskies sealed the deal eleven seconds remaining. BC pulled Joseph Woll for an extra attacker, but Brian Rigali bulled his way to the open net shielding off a checker and slipped his second of the season into the vacated net at 18:42.

The Huskies improvement in the second half of the season has been highlighted by their ability to play well in the third period. Cavanaugh gave full credit to the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Maureen “Mo” Butler.

“She’s done a phenomenal job getting our guys in shape. I’m amazed at the job she does because this is like three games in a row now where we are playing really strong third periods and that is a testament to how great shape we are in now.”

By the same token, Cavanaugh, like any coach, wanted to temper the post-game euphoria. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re playing pretty well right now. We played well before the break, but then we went through a bad stretch, but when you start thinking you’re playing at a level that we’re really good now, things can humble you pretty quickly. We just have to keep playing a blue-collar game here. That’s what we are.”

The second period was a penalty parade with the Huskies PK unit having the greater burden to deal with. The Eagles kept applying pressure on the Huskies early and found a way to tie the game.

The Eagles’ Michael Kim and Julius Mattila played catch-and-go. As Kim’s pass came back, he wound up from just inside the top of the right circle and launched a rocket that sailed over Creel’s shoulder at 6:27 for his second of the game and eighth of the season.

“The key to the game was we couldn’t score on any power-play goals. We had plenty of chances, nine power-plays. We just scored one and they were 0-for-7. From our perspective, when you have power-plays, you gotta score goals,” stated BC head coach, Jerry York.

The Huskies grabbed the lead when junior forward, Maxim Letunov, scored a fantastic goal off the rush. Defenseman David Drake caught Letunov in full flight for a redirect shot from 15-feet out that fooled Woll as it sailed past him into the back of the net. The goal was Letunov’s eighth and came at 18:21. The goal gave UCONN  the lead and momentum that carried over into the third period.

“David made a great pass to him for a great deflection goal for us. He (Max) got better as the game went on, and we need him to play well for us. He is a focal point for the offense for us and we need him to play well for us,” Cavanaugh said.

In a wild 47 seconds, the two teams combined for three goals starting at the six-minute mark at the start of the game.

The Huskies starting things potting two within a span of 28 seconds on their first two shots of the game.

Kasperi Ojantkanen got the first with a gorgeous move on a shorthanded rush slipping it past Chris Brown. The Eagles went with four forwards and one defenseman on their powerplay. Then Ojantkanen sent the puck on the backhand toward the net and Ronan had the easy tap-in for his third goal of the season at 6:12.

Spencer Naas then got a lead pass from Brian Freeman forming a two-on-none breakaway. Naas zipped his eighth of the season, a wrist shot over Woll’s glove sending the towel-waving Husky fans into a full roar with a 2-0 lead on the nations 15^th ranked team and the top team in Hockey East.

When asked afterward if York was thinking about making an early goalie change, he answered with a singular emphatic, “No.”

The two goals woke the Eagles from their listless play. They roared down the next shift with Ron Greco open on the right wing. He sent a shot on net that Creel, who was making his fifth straight start, made the save on. However, Creel fell to the ice and that allowed Finnish sophomore, Julius Mattila, who is just back from the WJC, the opportunity to capitalize. After escaping the checking of David Drake, Mattila banged in the rebound in an open net at 6:59.

NOTES:

The Huskies travel to Providence to play Brown University in their last non-conference meeting of the year.

Goaltender Adam Huska was examined earlier in the week and still needs more healing time. Officially, it should be another week to ten days. Huska is skating but not doing any goalie work. Sources say it could be two weeks or until the end of the regular season for his catching hand’s wrist to fully heal.

Governor Malloy, a BC grad, was in the house for the game but was not shown on the video board.

The Eagles have an unusual record. All 13 of their wins are in-conference and they’ve gone winless nationally in non-conference games.

BC features the sons of several NHL’ers.

Graham McPhee, an Edmonton Oilers draft pick, is the son of current Las Vegas Golden Knights GM, George McPhee, who played for the Rangers and started his pro career in New Haven with the Nighthawks.

Luke McInnis is the son of former New York Islander and Boston Bruin, Marty McInnis.

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