There were no points to be earned, no bragging rights to be had, but when a team’s struggling the way Massachusetts-Lowell has been as of late, any signs of progress makes for a positive night.
Losers of six of their last seven games entering the weekend, the River Hawks overcame a two-goal third period deficit to earn a 3-3 tie with Massachusetts in a nonconference matchup at Mullins Center Friday night.
UML was outshot 13-8 in the final frame, was called for five penalties to the Minutemen’s two, and was overwhelmed by UMass’ speed for much of the contest. However, the River Hawks showed a resiliency at the end that coach Norm Bazin said could swing his team in the right direction.
“It’s a huge positive,” Bazin said. “There’s some ties that feel like losses and some ties feel like wins. Coming back from a two-goal deficit is a great positive for us. I like our energy, I like the comeback and we can draw from that and build on it.”
Evan Campbell and Michael Kapla scored goals late in the third period to erase a 3-1 deficit midway through the final frame. Goaltender Kevin Boyle was strong in goal in place of Jeff Smith, who was pulled after 37 minutes in which he allowed two goals on 13 shots. Boyle made 18 saves on 19 shots in 27 minutes, 49 seconds of play.
“I liked his steady play when he got in there,” Bazin said of Boyle.
The Minutemen exorcised their demons versus the River Hawks, who they had lost nine straight games to stretching the last three years entering this season, with a 5-2 win at Mullins Center last Saturday. UMass, however, missed out on a chance to clinch its first Alumni Cup in the intrastate rivalry since 2010-11 with the tie. The teams will play again Saturday at 4 p.m. at Tsongas Center.
“We’re not really happy with our full effort,” said senior goaltender Steve Mastalerz, who made 29 saves. “We had a chance to (win), but we came out and didn’t do everything the right way and didn’t finish it up all the way.”
UMass coach John Micheletto, on the other hand, simply took it away as a balanced game for both sides.
“I try not to read the scoreboard,” Micheletto said. “I didn’t feel like there was any significant advantage throughout the course of the process tonight. … I don’t know that I could walk away from this one with any feel-goods or feel-bads.”
A defensive-zone miscue led to Ryan McGrath’s goal to open the scoring 8:49 into the first period. McGrath was fumbling with the puck trying to lead the rush into the zone with Brandon Montour in front. Montour tried to possess the puck and knock it away, but instead tapped it back onto the stick of McGrath, who wristed a shot from the slot past Mastalerz.
Montour got the goal back 1:47 into the second period to tie the game at one. The freshman received the puck from Marc Hetnik and broke out into the zone. He flipped the puck over the stick of a UML defenseman, raced alone toward the net, and beat Smith with a wrist shot in front.
UMass appeared to have taken the lead midway through the second period when Montour buried a rebound shot. The officials ruled it no goal because Steven Iacobellis, who took the initial shot, clipped the foot of Smith while going by the goal line.
“Was there contact? Sure. Was it initiated by us? I don’t think it was. Unfortunately that one goes against us,” Micheletto said.
The Minutemen pulled ahead 16:31 into the second on a gift-wrapped goal by Shane Walsh, who knocked in a loose puck sitting right in the crease after a wrap-around attempt by Dennis Kravchenko.
UMass doubled its lead to 3-1 in the third period when Kravchenko fed Iacobellis on an odd-man rush at 5:59.
The River Hawks began their comeback at 11:07 when Campbell snapped in a short-handed goal. Kapla tied it at 3-3 with a slap shot from the point.
“I thought we started getting pucks to the net,” Bazin said. “When you start getting pucks to the net, good things happen.”
