UMaine penalty-killers clamping down

A year ago, the University of Maine Black Bears were the top penalty-killing team in Hockey East in league games (90.3 percent success rate) and one of the best in the country at 88 percent overall.

And they have picked up where they left off, killing off 27 of the first 28 disadvantages, including 22 of 23 against nationally ranked Colorado College and Denver, teams that each returned two All-Americans who were among the nation’s scoring leaders a year ago.

Colorado College’s power play operated at 23.6 percent efficiency a year ago while Denver’s clicked at 20.7 percent.

Maine killed off the first 27 disadvantages before Denver broke through with 26 seconds remaining in Maine’s 4-2 win on Saturday.

Maine, which is 3-1 entering this weekend’s home series against College Hockey America’s Alabama-Huntsville, has allowed only 26 shots on goal in those 28 disadvantages.

There have been several keys behind Maine’s success in man-down situations.

“Obviously, our goaltenders have been playing great for us,” said senior defenseman Steve Mullin, referring to freshman Ben Bishop and sophomore Matt Lundin. “The coaches have done a great job scouting teams and we try to do what they tell us.”

“Each pair is clicking right now. We’ve been working well off each other,” said junior right wing Keith Johnson, referring to the several two-man forward tandems that are used on the penalty kill. “Coach [Tim Whitehead] always tries to get everyone involved and that’s a good bonus to have. Everyone is fresh.”

Johnson also pointed out that nine of Maine’s forwards are juniors and seniors and most have killed penalties prior to this season.

“We know what to do and what to expect in a game. It definitely helps to have guys with experience out there,” said senior center Jon Jankus.

He also said their aggressive style of penalty-killing has been important.

“We pressure nonstop and don’t give the other teams time to even get their breakout going. If they can’t do that, it screws up the whole flow of everything,” said Jankus.

Junior left wing Josh Soares said penalty-killing has been “a big focus of ours.”

“Defense is a big part of our game. We knew Colorado College and Denver had great power plays. It was a matter of focusing, really working hard and getting in their faces. We were well-positioned, we took away their cross-ice passes, and we let Ben see the shots.”

Bishop, who played the last three games after Lundin won the opener 3-1 over Air Force, said his mates have “blocked shots left and right. They’ve made it easy on me.”

“They did a real good job on the penalty kill,” said Denver coach George Gwozdecky. “They didn’t give us any second chances.”

“They were good at keeping rebounds out of the crease,” said Denver All-American center Gabe Gauthier.