DURHAM, N.H. - No. 16/15 Massachusetts hockey erased a two-goal first period deficit, scoring four unanswered for a 4-2 come-from-behind victory on the road at New Hampshire on Friday night. With the win, the Minutemen improve to 6-5-1 overall and 2-5-0 in Hockey East action, while the Wildcats fall to 3-10-1 and 0-9-1 in league play.
"That was definitely two extremes from the first to the second period," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "UNH came out with tremendous pace and execution. We weren't ready to play. We reset for the second period, made some adjustments that worked effectively for us, gave us some odd-man rushes and then our goaltender did a really good job tonight. He kept it to two goals and gave us a chance to get our feet under us. It's tough to win on the road. It's been tough for us to win period and that was hopefully a game we can take some momentum out of and move forward."
On its second power-play opportunity of the night, UNH managed to convert. Cy LeClerc redirected home a Kalle Eriksson from the left point with Colton Huard earning the secondary assist at the 13:07 mark.
The Wildcats then doubled their lead with Ryan Black collecting the puck off an offensive zone faceoff win by Nick Cafarelli and firing a shot past Luke Pavicich from the slot at 17:52.
UMass cut its deficit to 2-1, 2:53 into the second period. Freshman Kenny Connors connected with a stretch pass from Scott Morrow out of the defensive end and held off a UNH defender as he skated in on goaltender David Fessenden for the score. Freshman Cole O'Hara collected an assist on the play, as well.
The Minutemen leveled the score at 2-2 just 31 seconds later as junior Ryan Sullivan finished off a feed from Elliott McDermott and Matt Koopman on a odd-man rush in the top of the Wildcats net.
Senior Reed Lebster then put UMass in front with his fifth of the season on the power play at 6:24, wristing in a tic-tac-toe setup from Connors and Cal Kiefiuk.
Sophomore Ryan Lautenbach added an insurance tally on the rush in the third, burying a one-timer from Ryan Ufko and Michael Cameron 15:46 into the final frame.
New Hampshire finished with a 37-25 advantage in shots on goal and both teams went 1-for-3 on the power play.
Pavicich finished with 35 saves for UMass and Fessenden totaled 21 stops for the Wildcats.
Eleven different Minutemen recorded points on the evening, led by Connors' goal and assist. McDermott's assist marked his first point in a UMass uniform, Cameron notched his first collegiate helper and Sullivan netted his first goal in 30 games. Massachusetts next travels to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Friendship Four on November 25 and 26. The Minutemen will open with a Hockey East matchup against No. 13/14 UMass Lowell on Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern.
