Purcell lifts Black Bears past Lowell Freshman scores twice; Bishop racks up 42 saves

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NORTH BILLERICA, Mass. – Freshman right wing Teddy Purcell keeps scoring and sophomore goalie Ben Bishop keeps making saves.

Purcell had two goals for the third straight game and also notched an assist and Bishop made a career-high 42 saves as the University of Maine men’s hockey team continued its mastery over UMass Lowell with a 5-2 triumph at the Chelmsford Forum Saturday afternoon.

It was Maine’s 14th consecutive win over the River Hawks.

Maine expanded its unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) while UML’s winless streak stretched to 13 games (0-11-2). Maine is 14-3-2 overall, 7-3-1 in Hockey East, while the freshman-laden River Hawks fell to 3-13-5 and 2-8-2, respectively.

Purcell’s goals came 3:26 apart in the first period and made it 3-0.

Josh Soares had opened the scoring on the power play with his sixth goal in six games, giving Maine its 11th power-play goal in its last 20 chances.

Mike Lundin made it 4-0 early in the second period before the River Hawks received goals 41 seconds apart from Jason Bergeron (power play) and Mike Potacco midway through the period.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead called a timeout and the Bears were able to tame UML’s momentum.

Keenan Hopson’s shorthanded tally late in the third period iced it.

“They got momentum with those two quick goals, but that was a great timeout. It calmed us down. We outplayed them the rest of the second period and it carried into the third period,” said Maine senior right wing Keith Johnson.

“We had a much better performance over the full 60 minutes than we did on Friday [a 4-2 win],” added Johnson.

Whitehead concurred.

“We had a lot more intensity and focus,” he said. “We did a lot of things better. We took care of the puck a lot better, we didn’t turn it over in the neutral zone, we blocked more shots in front of Bishop, we won more loose pucks, we got to the net harder, and we shot the puck more.”

Lundin said they did a better job adapting to the smaller ice surface. The Chelmsford Forum is 15 feet shorter than Maine’s Alfond Arena.

“We simplified our game. We chipped the puck and got it deep instead of trying to make tape-to-tape passes,” said Lundin.

Soares opened the scoring by roofing the rebound of a Bret Tyler point shot past Carter Hutton.

Purcell’s goals were unassisted, the first coming on a breakaway off a UML turnover.

Purcell, who had beaten Vinny Monaco on a breakaway Friday, said, “I knew they had a different goalie, so I tried the same move I used Friday. Luckily, it worked.

“I faked a forehand [shot] and went to the backhand and put it over his blocker.”

Hutton said he had remembered Purcell using that move Friday, “but he kind of caught me offguard with how fast he got it to his backhand.”

Purcell said his next goal, a shot from a tight angle to Hutton’s left, was meant to be a pass to Brent Shepheard.

“That was lucky. It deflected off the goalie’s stick and went in,” said Purcell about his third straight game-winner.

“It went off [defenseman] Steve Capraro’s skate and my stick and went in,” said Hutton.

Lundin made it 4-0 with a screened wrist shot from the point off a Michel Leveille feed.

Bergeron tapped in a deflected point shot by Jeremy Dehner before an uncovered Potacco slid a backhander through Bishop’s pads off a Todd Fletcher pass.

Hopson capped the scoring when he split the defense after a neutral zone faceoff, broke in alone, and swept a backhander through Hutton’s pads.

Hopson’s goal was originally listed as unassisted but Johnson later earned an assist.

“Those three unassisted goals had three big mistakes attached to them, but Maine has the type of team that can take advantage of those mistakes,” said UML coach Blaise MacDonald.

BLACK BEARS 5, RIVER HAWKS 2

Maine (14-3-2) 3 1 1 – 5

UMass Lowell (3-13-5) 0 2 0 – 2

First period – 1. Maine, Soares 10 (Tyler, Ryan), 7:48 (pp); 2. Maine, Purcell 11 (unassisted), 15:49; 3. Maine, Purcell 12 (unassisted), 19:15. Penalties: UML, Bria, boarding, 6:29; Maine, Marshall, interference, 8:16; Maine, Duffy, roughing, 13:15.

Second period – 4. Maine, Lundin 4 (Leveille, Purcell), 3:30; 5. UML, Bergeron 6 (Dahner, Schaus), 10:39 (pp); 6. UML, Potacco 3 (Schaser, Fletcher), 11:20. Penalties: Maine, Leveille, holding, 8:49.

Third period – 7. Maine, Hopson 5 (Johnson), 14:27. Penalties: Maine, Purcell, slashing, 1:17; UML, Worthington, tripping, 4:37; Maine, Ramsey, holding, 12:30; Maine, Plaszcz, tripping, 14:56.

Shots on goal: Maine 9-13-10-32; UML 12-19-13-44

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (44 shots-42 saves); UML, Hutton (32-27)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 1 of 2, UML 1 of 6

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 7-10-8-25; UML 7-15-8-30

Attendance: 3,230