Merrimack Edged Late by #18 Maine, 4-2
ORONO, ME - Despite a great road performance, Gustav Nyquist
scored the game-winner with 17.2 seconds remaining as the
18th-ranked Maine Black Bears edged Merrimack 4-2
Saturday night at Alfond Arena.
Merrimack (7-11-0, 4-7-0 HEA) continues its seven-game road trip
at Boston University next Saturday at 7 p.m.
Just as a Merrimack penalty expired, Nyquist wristed a blast
from the right faceoff circle past Andrew Braithwaite
(Kingston, ON) for his team-leading 13th of the
season. Nyquist's goal came minutes after the Warriors controlled
most of the third period and had a goal disallowed midway through
the third. Ryan Hegarty added an empty-netter with eight seconds
remaining for the two-goal victory.
The Warriors came out strong, drawing an early penalty and
converting on the power play as Justin Bonitatibus
(Arlington, MA) redirected a point shot from
Fraser Allan (North Battleford, SK) for his sixth
of the year at 2:58. Allan threw a puck through traffic with
Bonitatibus and Ryan Flanigan (Rochester, NY)
screening goaltender Scott Darling, who saw the puck fly past his
glove.
"We're a much better team after this game than we were before
it," said head coach Mark Dennehy.
But the Black Bears rebounded as Spencer Abbott tallied a
first-period goal and assist, including a goal that bounced off a
Warrior skate from behind the net with just nine seconds remaining
in the period.
The teams played a scoreless second with Merrimack outshooting
the hosts 9-7. Darling was sharp, making three saves on
Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) and also stopped
Elliott Sheen (Lethbridge, AB) on a two-on-one.
The Warriors tied it early in the third on their second power
play of the game as junior captain Chris Barton (Calgary,
AB) dribbled from center ice to the net, weaving through
the Black Bear defense and beating Darling stick side for his ninth
of the year at 4:45. Karl Stollery (Camrose, AB)
and Joe Cucci (Melrose Park, IL) picked up the
assists on the goal which came two minutes after Andrew
Braithwaite (Kingston, ON) made a point-blank diving stick
save on Bryan Flynn to keep his team in the game.
Da Costa thought he gave Merrimack the lead seven minutes into
the third as he dribbled around a defender and beat Darling, but
the officials reversed the call after video replay appeared to show
Da Costa used his skate to direct the puck into the net.
“I thought we handled it pretty well,” Dennehy said.
“I thought we came back and played really hard and had some
chances. Whenever you take a goal off the board, it's going
to affect the outcome.”
The Warriors continued to control play as Jeff Velleca
(Waterbury, CT) had a breakaway attempt stopped by Darling
but still drew a penalty with 3:47 to play in regulation. Merrimack
managed two shots on the man advantage before taking a minor of
their own with 2:17 to play. Nyquist then netted the game-winner
just as the Warrior penalty expired.
With the victory, Maine is unbeaten in its last nine games.
Darling stopped 26 shots in the win and kept the Black Bears in the
game for long stretches.
Braithwaite was very sharp in net, making 25 stops. The Warriors
finished 2-for-3 on the power play and killed all four of their
penalties.
