Kariya, Heisten lift Maine past UNH in OT

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ORONO – University of Maine senior left wing and captain Chris Heisten knows hockey can be a frustrating game. He was just glad it was the University of New Hampshire that suffered the frustration on Friday night when he set up Marty Kariya’s breakaway backhander 29 seconds into overtime to give his Black Bears a 2-1 triumph over the Wildcats.

UNH outshot Maine 36-27, including a 22-8 margin at one point, and decisively outplayed the Bears for 52 minutes. But Bear freshman goalie Jimmy Howard was sensational and he gave his team the opportunity to extend its winning streak to six games.

Maine is now 9-1-1 overall, 4-0 in Hockey East. The Bears extended their unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1).

Robert Liscak had staked Maine to a 1-0 lead with Maine’s fifth power-play goal in its last eight chances spanning two games. That came at 13:28 of the first period.

UNH had its four-game winning streak snapped and is now 7-2-2 overall, 5-2-1 in Hockey East. UNH was without All-American right wing and assistant captain Colin Hemingway, who received a fighting major and game disqualification in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win at previously unbeaten Boston College.

“New Hampshire should have won the game,” said Heisten. “They should have won the first two periods. It was all Howie.”

UNH broke out of the defensive zone with ease, chipping the puck out of the zone and making nice one-touch passes. The Wildcats also were able to sustain their forecheck courtesy of their speed and Maine turnovers.

Frustrated UNH senior center Lanny Gare, who forced the overtime by scoring with 8:54 left in regulation, said a loss is a loss no matter how well the Wildcats played.

“[Playing well] doesn’t mean jack. There won’t be an asterisk next to this game saying UNH played well,” said Gare. “We didn’t put the puck in the net. It seemed like we kept shooting into Howard’s stomach. But you have to give him credit. He played very well.”

Kariya said there is a reason so many pucks hit Howard in the stomach.

“It’s because he gets in position,” said Kariya. “He may not look that quick but he really does a good job getting side-to-side.”

And Kariya rewarded him in overtime.

Francis Nault chipped the puck out to Heisten at center ice and he tried to pass it to Kariya on the right wing.

“My first pass hit their defenseman’s skate and came back to me. The defenseman followed the puck and I got it over to Marty,” said Heisten.

Kariya went in on junior goalie Mike Ayers and beat him with a backhander.

“If I had shot it along the ice, he would have saved it. He had his paddle down and when a goalie does that, it means the top half of the net is open,” said Kariya who flipped it over Ayers’ pad.

“He made a nice move and a good shot,” said Ayers. “I didn’t get the push off that I needed [to get into position].”

Liscak had opened the scoring on the second rebound of a Colin Shields shot. Lucas Lawson had the first rebound and Ayers made that save but Liscak lifted the rebound over Ayers.

UNH swarmed the Bears throughout the first two periods but Howard made great save after great save including a windmill glove save on Nathan Martz’s solo, and two superb side-to-side saves off a Kevin Truelson one-timer on a three-on-one and a point-blank Patrick Foley rebound off a Truelson point shot.

Shields had a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 with one of few Maine chances through the first 40 minutes but he missed a wide-open net with a Prestin Ryan pass.

UNH finally broke through in the third period after Lucas Lawson fired high and wide off a 2-on-1 with Kariya.

The puck came out to center ice and Gare converted off a 3-on-2 with a slapper from the top of the right circle into the upper short-side corner past Howard’s glove.

“It deflected off one of their guys going to the net,” said Howard.

But that would be the only puck to get behind Howard.

“I just tried to stay square to the shooter. Our defense did a great job in front again. I saw 85-90 percent of the shots,” said Howard, who also benefited from a pair of posts off the sticks of Preston Callander. He deflected a point shot off the near post and then hit the crossbar with a wraparound.

But Gare’s goal somehow changed the momentum in Maine’s favor.

“We were mad. Jimmy had kept us in front. We owed it to him,” said Kariya.

Ayers had made several outstanding saves in the last eight minutes of regulation to help force the overtime.

BLACK BEARS 2, WILDCATS 1 (OT)

New Hampshire (7-2-2) 0 0 1 0 – 1

Maine (9-1-1) 1 0 0 1 – 2

First period – 1. Maine, Liscak 4 (Shields, Lawson), 13:28 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Ryan, interference, 1:37; Maine, Loya, cross checking, 5:11; UNH, Lubesnick, holding, 12:26; Maine, Ryan, interference, 16:44; UNH, Teplitsky, slashing, 18:43

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Wight, tripping, 3:57; UNH, Foley, hitting after the whistle, 4:03; Maine, Murphy, holding, 9:17

Third period – 2. UNH, Gare 7 (Callander) 11:06; Penalties: Maine, Shaneberger, tripping, 5:25

Overtime – 3. Maine, Kariya 4 (Heisten) :29; Penalties: none

Shots on goal: UNH 15-12-9-0-36; Maine 6-6-14-1-27

Goaltenders: UNH, Ayers (27 shots-25 saves); Maine, Howard (36-35)

Power-play opportunities: UNH 0 of 6; Maine 1 of 3

High-percentage scoring chances: UNH 4-4-7-0-15; Maine 3-4-8-1-16

Attendance: 5,641