Singleton's OT Winner Lifts Men's Ice Hockey to 3-2 Victory in Game 1 at Northeastern
Links: Highlights | Box Score | Dennehy/Singleton Postgame Comments
BOSTON – Senior forward Kyle Singleton (Beaverton, Ore.) hadn't scored in over two years – a span of 87 games – heading into the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team's Friday night Hockey East Tournament Opening Round series against Northeastern. Appropriately enough, the winger ripped home the overtime winner while his team was shorthanded, lifting the Warriors to a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-three series at Matthews Arena.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 3, Northeastern 2 (F/OT)
Records: Merrimack (15-16-4) | Northeastern (16-15-4)
Location: Matthews Arena | Boston, Mass.
How It Happened
Sixty minutes weren't enough in the series opener as Friday, as Merrimack watched a 2-0 lead evaporate in a five-minute span against the Huskies, who scored twice in the third to draw even.
The Huskies continued to pressure down the stretch, totaling 18 shots in the final frame alone and nearly found the back of the net if not for a few huge saves by senior goaltender Rasmus Tirronen (Espoo, Finland), who was playing in only the second postseason game of his career.
Despite two more power plays for each side in the final 10 minutes of the third, the game would need to be decided in overtime.
The theme of the night was penalties – mostly against Merrimack, who was called for 10 total infractions – and that continued in the extra session. The Warriors were levied a two-minute tripping minor just over a minute into overtime, putting the visitors shorthanded for the 10th time of the night.
But arguably the team's best strength – its penalty kill, which was the top-ranked unit in Hockey East and third-best in the country – ultimately was what led to the game-winner. After Northeastern nearly ended it with a shot that ricocheted off the post, senior Justin Mansfield (Arlington, Mass.) broke up an ensuing chance at the blue line and chipped the puck ahead to Singleton, who skated in down the near wall.
Singleton, who had last scored on Jan. 5, 2013, at Vermont – a span of 87 games – had classmate Clayton Jardine (Lacombe, Alberta) to his left, but the Beaverton, Oregon, native opted to rip a slapper on net himself, and that decision paid dividends. The puck beat the glove of NU goaltender Clay Witt, clanged off the back bar and sent the Warriors into a frenzy, as Merrimack posted its third overtime win of the season and its first road win against a league opponent since a 4-1 victory at New Hampshire on Feb. 2, 2013.
Merrimack had to fight through a slew of penalties at the start of the game, including a five-minute major and game misconduct on top of two subsequent ones that kept the Warriors shorthanded from the 58th second of the game all the way through the 9:12 mark of the period.
But the team's penalty kill – the third-best unit in the country and top unit in Hockey East – came up huge, turning away all three power plays to keep the game scoreless through the midpoint of the frame.
At long last, Merrimack would garner its first power-play opportunity and cashed in with 20 seconds left on the advantage; freshman Marc Biega (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) tried to send a shot on net but it was blocked straight into the air; junior Justin Hussar (Lancaster, N.Y.) managed to get a hand on it, hauled it down to the ice and banked in a shot that deflected off the goaltender and in to make it 1-0 with just over six minutes left in the period. Freshman Jace Hennig (Port Moody, British Columbia) also assisted on the play.
The second period was a mostly back-and-forth affair; Northeastern had the only two power plays of the period, but it was Merrimack that would up the lead to two after Hennig tipped in a slapper from sophomore Jonathan Lashyn (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) with 1:50 left in the frame to make it 2-0. Rookie Mathieu Tibbet (Dover, Del.) also picked up his eighth assist of the year during the scoring sequence.
Merrimack nearly tripled the lead at the start of the third, as Hennig and Hussar both were denied by Witt before junior Vinny Scotti (Vineland, N.J.) hit the crossbar moments later.
Then, after matching penalties, Zach Aston-Reese beat Tirronen upstairs on a wrister from the near circle, cutting the hosts' deficit to 2-1. Roughly six minutes later, and on Northeastern's sixth power play of the night, the Warrior PK finally cracked, as Mike McMurtry deposited a loose rebound on the near side of the crease to level the game at 2-all, setting up the frantic final 10 minutes of regulation that ultimately would end with the score still level to send the contest to overtime.
For a moment it seemed as if Northeastern would complete the comeback after being awarded a power play early in overtime; Matt Benning ripped a shot off the cross bar that would have ended it, but fortunately for Merrimack, the puck wound up back at the point, where Mansfield's block led to the odd-man, shorthanded rush that ended with Singleton lighting the lamp and finishing it for good.
Inside The Numbers
- Merrimack was shorthanded for a whopping 22:24 of the game, including a stretch in the first of nearly eight straight minutes
- The Warriors were nearly doubled up in shot attempts, 82-46, but the defense came through with an astounding 20 blocks
- Northeastern wound up with a 38-29 advantage in shots on target, with Tirronen turning away six of them and Witt finishing with 26 saves himself
- Hennig was the only Warrior to finish with a two-point night; six other skaters posted one point apiece for the visitors
- Merrimack won 32-of-62 faceoffs (51.6%), with junior Brian Christie (West Chester, Pa.) going 12-10 on the dot
Notes and Notables
Merrimack was one of six teams nationwide without a shorthanded goal before the game-winner … Singleton had gone 87 games and 790 days before last scoring on Jan. 5, 2013, at Vermont … Merrimack has won three overtime games in a season for the first time since 2011-12, when it went 3-1-7 (Merrimack is now 3-1-4 this year).
Up Next
The Warriors and Huskies return to the ice at Matthews Arena tomorrow for Game 2 of the series. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast regionally on NESN.
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