Behind a four-goal second period, Connecticut edged past Quinnipiac, 5-4, on Friday evening at the UConn Ice Arena. Mark Murphy scored the game winner for the Huskies seconds after the Bobcats had rallied to tie the game in the third period.
Rob Hammel put the Bobcats on the board at the midway mark of the first period on assists from Tim Morrison and Ty Deinma. Despite taking the 1-0 lead, Quinnipiac was outshot by UConn, 16-6.
The second period belonged to Connecticut as the team scored four goals in the first 10 minutes of play. The two teams also combined for 46-penalty minutes, including a double minor and 10-minute misconduct for roughing assessed to UConn’s Adam Rhein and Quinnipiac’s Matt Froehlich.
The Huskies opened their four-goal run at the 1:43 mark of the period. Matt Grew passed the puck from behind the net to a waiting Kurt Kamienski, who tied the score. The go-ahead goal was scored by Eric St. Arnauld at the 5:09 mark. Tim Olsen intercepted a pass to keep the puck in the UConn offensive zone. Ron D’Angelo was fed the pass from Olsen, and moved it forward to St. Arnauld, waiting at the doorstep.
Grew took a slapshot 1:47 later to put the Huskies ahead, 3-1, with help from Kamienski and D’Angelo. Defenseman Mark Murphy chipped in a rebounded shot for the Huskies’ last goal of the period. D’Angelo dished out his third assist of the evening on Murphy’s tally.
Quinnipiac closed the gap to two goals during a power-play situation. Dan Ennis fired a shot from the blue line into the top shelf of the UConn goal with 4:14 left in the period. Chris White and Matt Erhart assisted on the score.
The Bobcats inched closer to UConn, coming within one early in the third. Grew was called for a hooking penalty at the 4:38 mark, and Ryan Morton capitalized on the opportunity, scoring a power-play goal 40 seconds later on an assist from Erhart.
Wade Winkler tied the game at four on yet another power play from Matt Craig at 16:27, but Murphy answered just 12 seconds later with the unassisted winner.
UConn’s Artie Imbriano turned away 23 shots in the win. Justin Eddy stopped 33 for Quinnipiac.
The win improves the Huskies to 8-20-3 overall and 7-13-3 in the conference. The Bobcats fall to 18-11-1, 16-6-1 in MAAC play. The two teams will face off on Saturday at 12 noon for a historic game at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.
