TROY, N.Y. - Five different Huskies found the back of the net as the UConn men's hockey team went on the road to grab a 5-2 win at Rensselaer Friday night at Houston Field House. The Huskies nab their first win on the season and improve to 1-2-1.
Sophomores Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, British Columbia) and Ruslan Iskhakov (Moscow, Russia) scored goals and added assists while classmate Jonny Evans (North Delta, British Columbia) dished out a pair of assists.
Sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic) turned in a 29 save night to earn his first win on the year while also picking up his first career assist.
The Huskies never trailed on Friday as sophomore Marc Gatcomb (Woburn, Mass.) opened the scoring and gave UConn a 1-0 lead after one. The Huskies took the game over in the second period as goals from Turnbull, junior Brian Rigali (Libertyville, Ill.) and freshman Harrison Rees (Oakville, Ontario) gave UConn a commanding 4-0 lead into the third.
Iskhakov's first on the year was sandwiched between a pair of RPI power play goals in the third to produce the final. The Huskies held a 36-31 edge on shots but was 0-for-3 on the power play.
1st Period:
The Huskies struck first coming up with the game's first goal at the 16:55 mark. Sophomore Kale Howarth (Red Deer, Alberta) chipped the puck up Turnbull who took it into the right corner. Turnbull fed an oncoming Gatcomb in the slot who buried it with a one-timer right in front for his second on the year and a 1-0 lead.
2nd Period:
The Huskies dominated the second period and scored three times to grab control of the game. Just 3:01 into the second, Turnbull used a great individual effort to pick-up his first of the season. Senior Benjamin Freeman (Falmouth, Maine) chipped the puck up to Turnbull who beat a man to create an odd man rush then buried one past Marshall top-shelf for a 2-0 lead.
At the 10:07 mark, Rigali made it 3-0 with his second goal of the season. Iskhakov played the puck up the left wing to Evans who threw a centering pass to an oncoming Rigali on the door step who redirected past Marshall.
Rees finished the second period scoring at 16:51, picking up his first collegiate goal. Vomacka played the puck around the boards to senior Alexander Payusov (Montral, Quebec) who carried into the zone. He dropped the puck back to the rookie defenseman at the high right point and he snapped a shot through traffic for a 4-0 lead.
3rd Period:
RPI put an end to the shutout bid with a power play goal at 2:18. The puck cycled to the point where defenseman Simon Kjellberg collected and rifled a wrister through plenty of traffic in front to beat Vomacka to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Huskies got it right back as Iskhakov picked-up his first on the season at 5:16. Junior Adam Karashik (Ridgefield, Conn.) sent a pass through traffic to Evans at center ice, who left it between his legs for a hard charging Iskhakov who buried it from the left circle for a 5-1 lead.
The Engineers scored their second power play goal of the night at the 12:00 mark. Patrick Polino snuck a tough angled shot from deep in the right circle, low and to the far post to pull RPI within 5-2.
Up Next:
The Huskies are off for a week before jumping into Hockey East action with a home and home series with Merrimack to kick-off November. UConn heads to Merrimack on Friday, November 1 and is home to host the Warriors at XL Center on Sunday, November 3.
