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Freshman forward Jonny Evans scored two goals for the Huskies
Evans Scores Twice to Lead UConn Past Vermont, 5-1
Freshman forward Jonny Evans scored two goals for the Huskies

HARTFORD, Conn. - UConn freshman Jonny Evans (North Delta, British Columbia) scored a pair of goals and fellow rookie Ruslan Iskhakov (Moscow, Russia) dished out three assists to lead the Huskies to a 5-1 Hockey East win over Vermont Friday night from the XL Center.

The Huskies ended a three-game losing streak and clinched the season series with Vermont with the win and improve to 11-20-2 overall and 6-15-2 in Hockey East. The loss dropped the Catamounts to 12-19-2 overall and 5-16-2 in the league.

Senior Miles Gendron (Shrewsbury, Mass.) scored the game's first goal and also picked-up an assist in the win. Freshman Kale Howarth (Red Deer, Alberta) and junior Alexander Payusov (Montreal, Quebec) also scored for the Huskies while junior Wyatt Newpower (Hugo, Minn.) added a pair of assists.

UConn finished with a 37-35 edge on shots and scored on their only power play chance of the night. The Huskies killed off all four UVM power plays.

Freshman goaltender Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic) picked-up his sixth win of the year, stopping 34 shots to tie his season-high. UVM goaltender Stefanos Lekkas made 32 saves in the loss.


1st Period:

The Huskies grabbed control of the game in the first period and got off to a fast start on Gendron's third goal of the year coming at 3:51. Coming off a neutral zone turnover, Iskhakov got the puck to Gendron in the slot off an odd-man rush and the senior captain buried a wrister, stick side, for a 1-0 lead.

Evans made it 2-0 at 6:33 with his seventh goal on the season, set-up again by fellow rookie Iskhakov. The Moscow, Russia broke up a Vermont clear and dished a pretty pass between his legs to Jachym Kondelik (Budejovice, Czech Republic) who had a give-and-go with Evans, who buried the feed at the right post.


2nd Period:

The Huskies opened the second period taking two quick penalties and needed to kill off a Vermont 5-on-3 chance in the opening three minutes of action. UConn built off that momentum and tacked two more on the board.

Howarth picked-up his fifth goal of the season at 11:43, chasing down a rebound of a Benjamin Freeman (Falmouth, Maine) shot and converting a wrap-around for a 3-0 lead. The Huskies picked-up a power play goal at 15:02 as Payusov delivered his team-leading 16th goal of the season.

Junior Wyatt Newpower (Hugo, Minn.) got the tic-tac-toe play started by sending the puck to Gendron on the high right who sent it down to Payusov in the left circle for a one-timer the junior buried for a 4-0 lead.

UVM ended the shutout bid late in the period as freshman Andrew Petrillo scored his first career goal, putting a shot off a UConn defender in front and past Vomacka.


3rd Period:

The Huskies had the only goal of the third period as Evans picked-up his second of the night for his third multi-goal game of the year. The rookie found a spot in front of the net and got a deflection on an Iskhakov shot near the right post at 15:41 for his eighth on the year and a 5-1 lead.


Up Next:

The Huskies will close out the season next Friday night, March 8 when they host nationally ranked Massachusetts at the XL Center on "Senior Night".

Game Summary

Friday, March 1, 2019

1
5
Game statistics
35 Shots 37
0 / 4 Power Plays 1 / 1
1 / 2 PIM 4 / 8
12-19-2 Records 11-20-2
GOAL SCORERS
Vermont UConn
Miles Gendron (3)
1st/3:51
Jonny Evans (7)
1st/6:33  GW
Kale Howarth (5)
2nd/11:43
Alexander Payusov (16)
2nd/15:02 PP
Andrew Petrillo (1)
2nd/18:38
Jonny Evans (8)
3rd/15:41
GOALTENDERS
Vermont UConn
Stefanos Lekkas
59:35, 32 Saves, 5 GA
(L, 12-19-2)

Empty Net
0:25, 0 GA
Tomáš Vomáčka
59:58, 34 Saves, 1 GA
(W, 6-7-0)

Empty Net
0:02, 0 GA