LOWELL, Mass. — The Providence power play scored three times to lead the Friars to a 7-3 over fifth-ranked Massachusetts-Lowell.
The contest pitted the top two defensive teams in Hockey East play, but resulted in a total of 10 goals.
With the victory in this battle of blue-collar rivals, Providence moves into fifth place in Hockey East and holds at least one game in hand over each team in front of them.
“We did a good job of finishing our chances and I thought our power play was really good tonight,” PC coach Nate Leaman said. “A good road win.”
The Friars had enjoyed a stretch of prolonged success dating back to late November, winning six straight and 10 of 11, but then lost their last two contests to teams with a collective 12-27-2 record.
“We had a long winning streak there, and we got a little complacent at the end of it,” Leaman said. “I thought we were playing pretty sloppy.
“We had a better week of practice [this week]. Losses get you focused pretty quick.”
Lowell also came into the game struggling of late, having lost the last two of three, but unlike Providence, couldn’t right the ship. Playing in their first home game since Dec. 6, the River Hawks got thoroughly trounced.
“We played as poorly as we have in a long time,” UML coach Norm Bazin said. “For me to explain why, I have no idea. We were back home after a month and a half.
“We were very easy to play against. I’m disappointed in our effort. I’m disappointed in our game plan. It goes right down the line. It was a team loss.
“Thankfully, this game only counted for two points.”
In particular, the River Hawk penalty kill has recently fallen apart. In this game it gave up goals in all three chances; it has now surrendered seven power-play goals in the last 12 opportunities.
“We addressed a lot of things in practice, but it didn’t materialize here in the game,” Bazin said. “It’s something we’ll have to get better at.”
The two teams play the back end of their weekend home-and-home series at Providence on Saturday night.
Providence took a 3-0 lead less than halfway into the game, and Lowell never got to within one goal.
The Friars got the scoring started at 9:14 of the first period. On the power play, John Gilmour fired from the left point and captain Noel Acciari buried the rebound for his seventh goal of the season.
Partway into the second period, two goals in less than a minute extended the Friars’ lead to 3-0. Lowell shot wide on a three-on-two, and Providence countered back at the other end with a Trevor Mingoia goal at 6:54. It would be the first of two for him on the night.
Just 58 seconds later, Noel Acciari slid a pass from the right faceoff dot to an open Brandon Tanev, who put in his fifth of the year.
At 11:46, the River Hawks finally got on the board. Adam Chapie shot from the right side near the hash marks and the puck deflected off Michael Fallon into the net. It was hardly a goal by design, but it got Lowell back into the game, 3-1.
Unfortunately for the River Hawks, that didn’t last long. At 18:21, Steven McParland collected a rebound of his own shot in front and, while getting knocked to his knees, beat Kevin Boyle to reestablish the three-goal margin.
Lowell got back to within two on a C.J. Smith blast from the point as time was running out in the period. Video review was required to determine whether it beat the buzzer, but the replay confirmed that the potential game-changing goal came with 0.6 seconds remaining.
Providence slammed the door shut five minutes into the third, however, on another power-play goal. The man-advantage unit moved the puck around until Nick Saracino fired from the point and beat Boyle for a 5-2 lead.
Bazin pulled Boyle, replacing him with Olli Kalkaja, a freshman seeing his first collegiate action.
Within five minutes, Kalkaja gave up his first goal, this coming on the third Providence power-play strike. Mingoia shot from the point for his second of the game and 13th of the season.
In the too little, too late department, Smith added his second goal of the night to make it 6-3, holding the puck as he cut across the crease and then deking and beating Jon Gillies.
But with 2:50 remaining and Lowell on the power play with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Kevin Rooney ended all suspense. He skated hard down the right wing and while getting hauled down, one-handed a shot into the open net.
