It was a game that got away.
The University of Maine limited the University of New Hampshire to just five shots on goal through two periods but couldn’t capitalize on its 17 shots, and it came back to bite the Black Bears as sophomore center Cam MacDonald’s third-period goal gave the Wildcats a 1-0 victory at Alfond Arena on Friday night.
The teams will conclude their series on Saturday at 7.
MacDonald took advantage of a Frank Djurasevic turnover in the UNH zone to sprint down the ice on a semi-breakaway.
UMaine defenseman Bodie Nobes tried to race over to prevent the shot but MacDonald whistled a wrist shot from inner half of the right circle past the glove of UMaine freshman goalie Mathis Rousseau into the short side corner for his fourth goal of the season.
It was UNH’s third straight win and fifth in its last six road games.
The Wildcats snapped UMaine’s four-game unbeaten streak at their expense (3-0-1).
UNH is now 6-3 on the road this season and UMaine is 6-3 at home.
Senior goalie Kyle Chauvette made 21 saves to earn his second straight shutout.
Rousseau finished with 13 saves.
UNH is now 8-7 overall and 4-4 in Hockey East while 11th-ranked UMaine fell to 8-6-1 and 5-4.
The Black Bears thoroughly dominated the first period but couldn’t parlay that dominance into a goal as the teams entered the intermission scoreless.
The Black Bears limited the Wildcats to just one shot on goal while carving out nine themselves but Chauvette came up with some good saves and the Black Bears weren’t able to get to a few loose pucks near the UNH net before the Wildcats cleared them out of danger.
UMaine had a 27-8 edge in shot attempts but they missed the net 12 times and the Wildcats blocked six shots.
The second period was much more evenly-played although the Black Bears had an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal and a 19-12 edge in shot attempts.
Rousseau made a top-notch stop on a Cy LeClerc one-timer from the slot off a Sam Oliver pass as he squeezed his pads to keep the game scoreless.
Chauvette robbed Charlie Russell who redirected a Brandon Chabrier pass past Chauvette.
UNH got better as the game went along and turned in an impressive third-period performance, outshooting UMaine 9-4 and scoring the goal that decided the game.
Sophomore center Oskar Komarov had UMaine’s best opportunity to equalize in the third period but Chauvette made a blocker save on his turnaround shot from the low slot.
