LOWELL, Mass. - Sophomore goalkeeper Doug Carr (Hanover, Mass.) turned away 32 shots in a narrow 2-1 Hockey East loss to #12 Maine on Saturday night in front of 4,696 fans in the Tsongas Center. The Black Bears' Dan Sullivan (York, Pa.) stopped 35 shots to pick up the win.
The loss drops #7 UMass Lowell to 19-8-0 on the season and 14-7-0 in conference competition. Maine jumps to 17-9-3 overall and 12-8-2 in Hockey East. The River Hawks maintained their place atop the conference standings, while the Black Bears moved into a tie with Merrimack for fourth.
Despite being outshot 14-6 in the first period, Maine emerged with a 1-0 lead late in the frame. Ryan Hegarty (Arlington, Mass.) cut-off a breakout attempt in UMass Lowell's zone and got the puck to Kyle Beattie (Avondale, Ariz.). The junior forward skated towards the middle of the circles and beat Carr after the puck caught a piece of a skate to knuckle into the mesh.
The River Hawks bounced back in the second, scoring at 15:22 into the action. Colin Wright (Burlington, Ont.) hit Sullivan with a shot, then Michael Budd (Burlington, Ont.) and Matt Ferreira (Brampton, Ont.) knocked the puck to the corner. Wright picked back up puck, curled into the slot and beat Sullivan with the second chance for his third goal of the year.
The Black Bears wasted little time recapturing the lead after a penalty on Wright put Maine on the power play at 17:51 into the second. Beattie hit Matt Mangene (Miller Place, N.Y.) with a perfect back-door pass for his 13th goal of the season and what would prove to be the game-winner.
UMass Lowell had several opportunities in the third to tie the game, most notably with just one second remaining in play. Riley Wetmore (Swanton, Vt.) one-timed a rebound off of Chad Ruhwedel's (San Diego, Calif.) shot into what looked like an open net, but Sullivan snatched the puck with his glove just before time expired to save the result.
For the night, Carr stopped 32-of-34 shots as he fell to 18-5-0 on the season. Sullivan improved to 16-6-3 after turning away 35-of-36 shots.
The two teams jump back into action next weekend as UMass Lowell engages in a home-and-home series with Boston University, while Maine hosts Massachusetts twice in the Alfond Arena.