HARTFORD, Conn. — Overtime, a common theme in Connecticut’s season, was needed again Wednesday night and for the seventh time this season, UConn left with one point in a 2-2 tie with Providence.
UConn started the night off strong, scoring in the first 37 seconds as Brent Norris scored on a rebound chance.
“I thought we came out played a great first period, one of our best first periods of the year,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh. “We had a lot of energy and we were on the puck.”
Providence weathered the storm and found the equalizer at the mid-point of the first period as Brooks Behling’s shot had eyes and beat UConn goaltender Rob Nichols.
“I don’t think we were ready to play to start the game,” Providence coach Nate Leaman said. “We were chasing the game for most of the first period.”
The Huskies (8-12-7) once again jumped out to a quick start in the second period as Joey Ferris banked a shot just off the left post and by Providence goaltender Jon Gillies.
That would be the last puck to beat Gillies (23 saves) on the night.
The Friars (16-9-2) woke up after the UConn goal and the rest of the period belonged to them. Sloppy play by UConn enabled a 5-on-3 power play for Providence amd Nichols (33 saves) fought off several shots before Ross Mauermann found the back of the net on a rebound to even the score at two.
Providence was outplayed early by the Huskies, but turned the tables on their opponents in the latter stages of the game. After the opening period, Providence held a 30-13 edge in shots for the rest of the night.
“We started winning the battles.” Leaman said. “We lost a lot of faceoffs early on. As the game went on, we started winning those battles.”
Providence carried the play in the third period, as well as overtime, but the Friars could not solve Nichols for the go-ahead goal.
UConn did have one golden chance on a 2-on-1 up ice with just 6:50 remaining in regulation only to see Gillies come up with a fantastic stick save deflecting the puck wide of the open cage, and preserving the tie for Providence.
“I think the goalies were the stars of the game,” said Leaman. “Jonny [Gillies] had that great save in the third and Nichols had several saves in the second period.”
While the game ended in a tie. Cavanaugh was a little flustered after the game.
“We wanted to get the two points tonight,” he said. “We didn’t, but any point this time of year going down the stretch fighting for a playoff spot is crucial.”
This was just the fourth meeting all-time between the two clubs, but won’t wait long for the fifth as a rematch is scheduled for Saturday night in Providence.
