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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – University of Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead said Saturday night’s 3-3 overtime men’s hockey tie with Providence College was a “monstrous point.”
Friars coach Paul Pooley said the Black Bears proved to be “very resilient.”
The Bears found themselves staring at a 2-0 deficit on a pair of first-period goals by Providence College All-American center Devin Rask and facing a hot goalie in junior Nolan Schaefer, who finished with 44 saves.
The Bears swarmed the Friar net and were finally rewarded when sophomore defenseman Francis Nault scored power-play goals just 55 seconds apart in the third period to end Schaefer’s shutout string at 102 minutes and 18 seconds and tie it up.
A controversial goal by Rask with 1:29 left threatened to send the Bears home with a devastating loss but Maine pulled goalie Mike Morrison in favor of an extra attacker and that extra attacker, Niko Dimitrakos, fed Lucas Lawson for a game-tying one-timer with 1:11 remaining.
Maine is now 17-9-6 overall, 11-5-4 in Hockey East. Providence is 13-15-5 and 8-10-3, respectively.
“We showed a lot of character,” said Dimitrakos, who assisted on all three goals.
“We really battled hard,” said Whitehead. “Even when we fell behind 2-0, we kept our composure, kept getting the pucks to the net and eventually the dam broke.”
Nault provided the spark Maine needed 8:53 into the third period. Nault took a pass from Dimitrakos, streaked down the left wing and, as he was being hauled down by Peter Fregoe, Nault shoveled a 16-foot wrister behind Schaefer.
“I wasn’t touching the ice [when I shot]. I looked up and it went five-hole,” said Nault.
Maine senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf said, “That was definitely the turning point in the game. Once we finally cracked the kid [Schaefer], we knew the goals would come.”
Fregoe was assessed a hooking penalty on the play and Nault capitalized with a screened one-timer from the midpoint off a Dimitrakos feed.
“I went low blocker side,” said Nault. “He had made a great stop with his glove on me Friday night [1-0 Maine win] so I decided to go blocker side.”
Rask regained the lead when he cut around Nault and eventually pushed his own rebound across the goal line.
“I made two or three stops and Rask cross-checked me in the face. He drove me into the net. I thought they had already blown the play dead. And the goal judge never put the light on,” said Morrison.
The Bears answered quickly.
Marty Kariya won the center-ice faceoff and the Bears dumped it into the Friar zone.
The puck was eventually shot around the boards and Kariya slipped it to Dimitrakos, who spotted Lawson in the left circle.
“Niko made a great pass and I one-timed it. It went through his legs,” said Lawson, whose shot caught a lot of Schaefer’s goal stick before sneaking through his pads.
“Our guys never let up,” said Morrison.
Rask had opened the scoring at the 8:47 mark when he beat Maine defenseman Michael Schutte out of the left corner and sailed a close-in backhander into the short-side corner.
Rask scored again 2:04 later when he took a long cross-ice pass from David Carpentier and beat Morrison to the glove side with a 45-foot slap shot.
Maine buzzed the Friar net in the second period but Schaefer came up with several great stops, including three on Colin Shields, and his mates did a good job preventing second and third shots.
Maine outshot PC 47-26.
BLACK BEARS 3, FRIARS 3 (OT)
Maine (17-9-6) 0 0 3 0 ? 3
Providence (13-15-5) 2 0 1 0 ? 3
First period ? 1. PC, Rask 12 (Loughlean, Torretti), 8:47; 2. PC, Rask 13 (Carpentier, Mason), 10:51. Penalties: Maine, Ryan, cross checking, 2:49; Maine, Barnes, high sticking, 12:06; PC, Lucci, hooking, 13:05; PC, Weiman, holding, 19:27.
Second period ? No scoring. Penalties: PC, Mason, holding, 1:29; PC, Lucci, interference, 9:50; Maine, Liscak, roughing, 9:50; PC, Lucci, holding and hitting after the whistle, 19:55; Maine, Nault, roughing and hitting after the whistle, 19:55.
Third period ? 3. Maine, Nault 4 (Dimitrakos), 8:53 (pp); 4. Maine, Nault 5 (Dimitrakos, Liscak), 9:48 (pp); 5. PC, Rask 14 (Loughlean), 18:31; 6. Maine, Lawson 9 (Dimitrakos, Kariya), 18:49. Penalties: Maine, Dimitrakos, tripping, 5:10; PC, Chaput, hitting after the whistle, 7:07; PC, Fregoe, hooking, 8:53.
Overtime ? No scoring. Penalties: none
Shots on goal: Maine 16-12-17-2?47; PC 12-3-8-3?26
Goaltenders: Maine, Morrison (26 shots-23 saves); PC, Schaefer (47-44)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 2-4; PC 0-3
High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 6-3-11-0?20; PC 6-1-2-2?11
Attendance: 2,211
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