Durham, NH- Despite controlling the play for much of the first 40 minutes of play, Lowell was able to play consistent defense in front of its goaltender to take a 2-0 lead after two periods. The River Hawks opened the scoring at 16 minutes, 40 seconds of the first period when John Edwardh took a lively bounce off the board and put it into the open net. it was much of the same in the second period until Lowell again got a lively bounce to work in its favor. This time AJ White took a feed to the weak side and put it past Clark to give UML the 2-0 lead after two.

Lowell would look comfortable in third and continued to hold UNH to the outside areas of the Ice. UML improves its record to 4-1-1 on the year, 2-0-0 in Hockey East. UNH falls to 2-3-0, 0-1-0. UNH has yet to lose consecutive games, but haven’t put together a winning streak as such. Lowell has now won two games in a row for the second time this season. The Wildcats out-shot the River Hawks 34-17, but were unable to solve Kevin Boyle.

What I Saw

• Lowell struggles with possession but it doesn’t matter they are opportunistic and wait for the right opportunity. Tonight it got its opportunities off the lively boards and it took advantage of a young UNH defense, which kept leaving the weak side open. UML has only outshot one team on the season, in its opener against BC. A balanced attack is exactly what the River Hawks have been so far and tonight that was again the case.
• UNH’s defense, albeit talented, is still very young and it shows. The weak side was left open multiple times and Lowell just pounced when it had opportunities. Despite allowing just 14 shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, it was the two mistakes that cost it dearly. Its offense could never recover from those mistakes because it just could not finish.
• UML created and controlled the game despite getting heavily outshot. The neutral zone was a trap for UNH and when it got into the zone Lowell was able to frustrate and dictate everything its opponent did. UNH had 2:30 of  extra attacker time, but UML gave them nothing. The matchup has been a nightmare for UNH in the past three years. Tonight it proved to be the case once more.

What I thought

• UNH will possess the puck, but can it score will be the ultimate question. Last week it played a porous Colorado College team and found the back of the net. Tonight, it played a stingy Lowell team it was unable to take advantage of. For UNH, its young lineup will have games where it struggles to find the back of the net. Tonight was one of those nights.
• Lowell seemed like the Lowell of the last two years tonight. Once it got the lead, it did a great job of holding UNH to the outside of the ice. UNH had its opportunities to find the twine but UML just blocked and stifled all of the best chances. When called upon, Kevin Boyle was strong in the net but in this game his defense bailed him out more often than not.

What They Said

UNH coach Dick Umile said,

“Needless to say we are disappointed with the result. We gave them both of their goals. We had opportunities early and we had to put them in.”

“We just needed to finish the opportunities that we had. We just didn’t do that tonight.”

Lowell coach Norm Bazin said,

“We saved our best period for last. Despite the shots we played really well. Our forwards played better one defense in the third period. We were able to keep pucks to the outside in the third.”

“They are an excellent hockey team. We have some things to sure up. We loss momentum on our specialty teams. Thankfully for us we had the shot blocks and had some urgency in our game. That is what you need if you are going to play on the road and have success.”

UNH forward Grayson Downing said,

“We had quite a few chances and just couldn’t seem to score. We played defensively but just didn’t really execute.”

What Else You Should Know

UNH and Lowell will play the back-end of its home and home series at the Tsongas Center tomorrow night. Lowell will be looking for its third consecutive win, while UNH will be looking to even its record at 3-3-0 on the season.

UNH has yet to give up a power-play goal to its opponent on the season. They are 22 for 22 on the PK this season.

Lowell had just five grade A opportunities and scored on two of them.

Friday, October 31st, 2014 - 11:04 pm | Blogs, Hockey East, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings