Lawson lifts Maine by UNH in OT

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DURHAM, N.H. – The University of Maine’s seniors had never won a game at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center. The Bears were 0-5-1 in their last six trips to Durham and had been outscored 19-4.

But a senior took care of that as left wing Lucas Lawson scored with 6.8 seconds left in overtime to give Maine a 3-2 win over the Wildcats.

Maine is now 21-3-4 overall, 11-2-3 in Hockey East. The Bears pulled into a first-place tie with New Hampshire and Boston College atop the Hockey East standings.

UNH fell to 18-6-3 and 12-4-1, respectively. UNH had beaten Maine 4-2 Saturday night.

Francis Nault had the puck along the left-wing boards in the UNH zone and spied the streaking Lawson, cutting from right to left toward the UNH net. He made a diagonal pass to Lawson.

“It was a one-on-three and I was trying to buy time,” said Nault. “Then I saw Lucas flying to the net.”

Lawson said, “I was just trying to get to the net. I got behind one of their defensemen. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a pass. I was hoping there might be a rebound. Francis made a great play. The puck was bouncing and it went in off my skate, shinpad or stick.”

UNH goalie Michael Ayers said he wasn’t sure what happened on the play.

“One of their guys was going to the net with one of our guys, I poke checked the puck and it went in off somebody,” said Ayers.

A relieved Marty Kariya said it was nice to get his first win as a Black Bear at the Whittemore Center.

“It’s nice to know there isn’t a high being stopping us from winning here,” said Kariya.

UNH’s Josh Prudden tied the game in dramatic fashion with 6:08 left, just seconds after goalie Mike Ayers preserved a one-goal deficit with a great sprawling save on Todd Jackson.

Marty Kariya and Jackson generated a shorthanded two-on-one with Kariya feeding Jackson in front. Jackson sliced left to right across the top of the crease and tried to pull it around the goalie only to have Ayers dive across and smother his shot with his arm.

Jim Abbott then found Prudden behind the Bear defense and made a pinpoint pass to him.

Maine goalie Jimmy Howard held his ground but Prudden’s 10-foot wrister squeaked between his pads.

“I had come onto the ice late on a change,” explained Prudden.

Lanny Gare energized the soldout crowd of 6,501 by scoring just 1:12 into the game but Derek Damon snapped a seven-game goal-scoring slump 2:44 later by converting a Kariya pass off a two-on-one and Tommy Reimann ended his 12-game goal-scoring drought with six seconds left in the initial period.

Both teams had some golden opportunities in the second period but Howard and Ayers were superb as Howard rejected 12 shots and Ayers made 11 saves.

Gare opened the scoring off a turnover by Maine defenseman Nault, whose pass up the boards failed to connect and was intercepted by Colin Hemingway.

Hemingway slid the puck to Gare between the faceoff circles and he one-timed a 20-footer past Howard for his fourth goal in three games against the Bears this season.

The Bears equalized when Chris Heisten passed the puck out of the defensive zone to Kariya.

Kariya held the puck until Damon squared himself into shooting position and then he flipped it across. Damon one-timed it into the short side past Ayers.

New Hampshire had the better opportunities in the first period but Howard was sharp.

Reimann’s go-ahead goal came off a two-on-one that actually broke down.

Colin Shields gathered in a Nault clearout at center ice and broke down the right wing.

A UNH defenseman dove to block his pass and did so but Shields followed the puck into the corner.

Lawson was alone just beyond the top of the crease with Reimann skating down the slot directly behind him.

Shields’ pass went to Reimann, whose quick wrist shot beat Ayers from 12 feet out.

Howard finished with 35 saves while Ayers rejected 29.

BLACK BEARS 3, WILDCATS 2 (OT)

Maine (21-3-4) 2 0 0 1?3

UNH (18-6-3) 1 0 1 0?2

First period ? 1. UNH, Gare 17 (Hemingway, Lubesnick), 1:12; 2. Maine, Damon 6 (Kariya), 3:56; 3. Maine, Reimann (Shields), 19:54. Penalties: UNH, Barker, hooking, 13:02; Maine, Reimann, holding the stick, 14:20.

Second period ? No scoring. Penalties: UNH, Prudden, interference, 2:56; Maine, Lawson, elbowing, 9:14; UNH, Abbott, elbowing, 11:45; Maine, Jackson, roughing, 13:28; UNH, Barker, roughing, 13:28; Maine, Jackson, holding, 16:37.

Third period ? 4. UNH, Prudden 6 (Abbott) 12:52. Penalties: UNH, Foley, boarding :20; Maine, Loya, tripping, 7:24; UNH, Lubesnick, holding, 11:04; Maine, Moore, holding, 12:15.

Overtime ? 5. Maine, Lawson 15 (Nault, Reimann), 4:53. Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Maine 7-11-11-3?32; UNH 12-12-10-3?37

Goaltenders: Maine, Howard (37 shots-35 saves); UNH, Ayers (32 shots-29 saves)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 5; UNH 1 of 5

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 5-7-5-3?20; UNH 8-10-9-2?29