Talk of power plays has been all the rage so far this college hockey season, but it was the flip side of that coin that powered fifth-ranked Massachusetts-Lowell over No. 12 St. Lawrence, 5-2.
The River Hawks broke a 2-2 deadlock with not one, but two short-handed goals in the second period. At 2:20, John Edwardh broke down the right side and put the first of them in the net.
Eleven minutes later — ironically with Edwardh in the penalty box to set up the short-handed situation — Joe Gambardella was abreast a defender after Dylan Zink flipped the puck to the offensive zone. Then the assistant captain suddenly wasn’t abreast any longer. He’d turned on the jets to gain some separation, got his stick on the puck, and flipped it past St. Lawrence goaltender Kyle Hayton.
“We have an aggressive penalty kill so we’re always thinking about it,” Edwardh said after the win. “First and foremost, we’re thinking about killing the penalty, but we have the green light if we see fit.”
The results are no accident.
“We work a lot on special teams in practice,” Gambardella said. “We just try to get to pucks first, and when we can be aggressive, we are.”
To set the two-shorthanders-in-a-period feat in perspective, Lowell scored four all of last year and even more to the point, the two in this game’s second period would have matched or topped the season-long totals of half of all Hockey East teams.
Adding another irony to an already extreme situation, the River Hawks entered the third period 0-for-6 on the power play while at the same time scoring 2-for-6 on the penalty kill.
“I don’t know if you go out [intending] to score a short-handed goal, but if you have the mentality to be aggressive they usually come as a result,” Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. Their impact was undeniable. “Gambardella’s was a backbreaker. It was vintage Garmbardella. Second effort throughout.
“Eddie’s goal was deflating, but the backbreaker was Gambo’s goal.”
Not surprisingly, Bazin also paid tribute to the less flashy elements of his team’s penalty killing.
“We limited them to 13 shots on eight power plays,” he said. “That’s quite a feat.
“There are a lot of power plays and penalty kill situations in a game right now the way the game is being called in the early going. So, that’s what I was most pleased with, the ability to manage special teams because there’s a lot of them.”
Hockey East results
No. 10 Boston College 4, Colorado College 1
Boston College surrendered an early first-period power-play goal, but responded with one of its own a minute later and another before the period ended. Colin White led the offense with two goals and an assist.
No. 17 Northeastern 5 Arizona State 2
Northeastern raced out to a 4-0 first period lead en route to a convincing 5-2 win. Both teams scored two power-play goals while the Huskies added a short-hander.
Massachusetts 3 Army 2
UMass outshot Army 13-1 in a first period that gave the Minutemen a 2-0 lead, then expanded the margin to three in the second. Army clawed back with two five-on-three power-play goals in the third, but UMass held on for the win.
No. 15 Providence 3 Clarkson 3
Providence rode three power-play goals to earn a tie in a see-saw battle in which no team ever led by more than a goal. Clarkson scored only once in four man-advantage chances, but added a short-handed goal.
Connecticut 2, American International 2
UConn dominated the shot totals, 38-18, including 14-3 and 14-2 margins in the first and third periods, respectively, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie. Evan Richardson scored his fourth goal of the season and assisted on Karl El-Mir’s third.
No. 8 Boston University 7 Sacred Heart 0
BU scored five times in the third period to blow open what had been a 2-0 game. The Terriers went 3-for-9 on the power play while posting a better-than-perfect 0-for-9 PK with a short-handed goal.
Merrimack 4 Colgate 3
Merrimack’s penalty killers provided the decisive edge, allowing only a single Colgate power-play goal in 11 chances while offsetting that singleton with a short-hander of their own. It was the Warriors’ first win of the season.
Maine 3, at Miami 3
Maine continued to be the best story of the season, taking its homegrown success onto the road and tying Miami, 3-3, in a see-saw game in which the Black Bears never trailed. Maine won the shootout, 1-0. Freshman Mitchell Fossier scored his sixth goal of the season.
No. 3 Notre Dame 3, Penn State 3
The Irish battled back from a late second period 3-1 deficit to earn a 3-3 tie. They were shut out on the power play, going 0-for-10, but countered Penn State’s goal on the man advantage with a short-handed goal in the first period.
Vermont 4, at No. 20 Omaha
The Catamounts rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, then took a 4-3 lead that they could not hold, having to settle for a 4-4 tie. Both teams scored twice on the power play.
