HARTFORD, Conn. - The UConn men's hockey team got a pair of power play goals from junior Alexander Payusov (Montreal, Quebec) but two third period Maine scores produced a 2-2 tie at the XL Center on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies get three points on the weekend and improve to 3-2-1 overall and 1-1-1 in Hockey East.
After a scoreless first period, Payusov ran his goal-scoring streak to four-straight games with a pair of second period tallies, both coming on the power play. The Huskies took a 2-0 lead into the third period but could keep Maine at bay.
Maine's Chase Pearson scored at the 13:00 minute mark on the power play to pull his team to within 2-1. The Black Bears pulled goaltender Jeremy Swayman with 1:55 left and found the equalizer just 33 seconds later as Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup buried a rebound to force overtime.
The Black Bears got 26 saves from Swayman in salvaging a point on the weekend and outshot the Huskies, 33-28. UConn goaltender Adam Huska (Zvolen, Slovakia) stopped 31 shots.
1st Period:
Neither team generated much offense in the first with five shots apiece but both had chances on the power play. The Huskies killed off three Maine power plays, including a 5-on-3 chance. UConn went 0-for-2 with the extra skater.
2nd Period:
The UConn special teams came through in the second period as Payusov tacked on two power play goals for the Huskies. The first came when UConn got a five-minute power play after Ryan Smith was given a major and game misconduct for hitting from behind at 4:16. During that stretch, the Huskies had both a 5-on-3 and 4-on-3 chance before Payusov buried a rebound off an Evan Wisocky (Hoboken, N.J.) shot for a 1-0 lead at 7:51.
The Huskies got a late period power play and Payusov made the Black Bears pay again, burying a one-timer off a Wisocky feed at the 19:40 mark to send UConn into the second break up 2-0.
3rd Period:
Maine's power play finally converted at the 13:00 minute mark as Pearson buried a one-timer from the right circle, burying a feed from Rob Michel.
With 1:55 left, Maine used their time-out to pull the goaltender. With the extra skater, they found the tying goal as Schmidt-Svejstrup knocked in a deflected puck that came from a shot at the point, knotting the game up a 2-2 with 1:12 left.
OT:
Maine kept the offensive pressure on, outshooting the Huskies 6-1 in the extra session with Huska keeping the game tied, 2-2 at the final horn.
Up Next:
The Huskies will hit the road next weekend and head up to Burlington, Vermont for a weekend Hockey East series against the Catamounts.
