PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Trevor Mingoia’s goal at 19:26 of the second period proved to be the difference as Providence slipped by Merrimack 3-2 on Friday night in front of 2,647 fans at Schneider Arena.
It was a perfect response to Jace Hennig’s power-play goal some four minutes earlier, a goal that trimmed the Friars’ lead to 2-1.
Mingoia’s goal, assisted by Mark Jankowski, came just moments after he rattled the right post on a shot. It was his third goal of the season, and his most significant one to date. The results were first-star honors and high praise from his coach, Nate Leaman.
“He really had his legs going…that goal was a big goal for us…he was battling all night, I thought it was a really good game for him,” Leaman remarked.
Mingoia’s performance was just what Providence needed in what Leaman dubbed a “typical Merrimack-Providence hockey game,” one burdened with physicality from puck drop to the final horn.
Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy echoed a different on the impact of Mingoia’s goal.
“I would say it didn’t [change the momentum],” Dennehy stated in his postgame comments. “It can take some wind out of your sails if you let it, but this team has done a good job not worrying about the score until the final horn.”
Dennehy may have been correct in his thoughts, as Merrimack put heavy pressure on the Friars in the third period. They allowed just two shots on goal while challenging Jon Gillies with 16 shots of their own.
“We were able to get pucks behind their defense,” added Dennehy, who also pointed out that the Warriors’ forecheck was especially sound in the game’s final third.
Gillies was once again solid in net, stopping 25 shots on 27 attempts. Across the ice, Rasmus Tirronen was fantastic in holding down his cage as well, stopping 23 shots on 26 attempts.
Both offenses were quite dormant to begin the contest, yet play seemed to open up in the middle of the opening frame. The promise of an offensive outburst for the Warriors morphed into a counter-attack for game’s opening goal. The Friars corralled a loose puck just outside Gillies’ crease and moments later, Brandon Tanev found Steve McParland, who beat Tirronen as a Warrior defender careened into his teammate’s leg pads.
After a brief review, the goal was confirmed, eliciting cheers throughout the Friar faithful.
The action refused to cease from that point.
Providence’s Tom Parisi fired a shot that was deflected just over the net at the 10-minute mark, and despite the heroic efforts of Merrimack’s defense, Providence was able to keep the puck in their attacking zone for a majority of the period. The game slowed for a few brief moments until the 18-minute mark, where Merrimack picked up two penalties in a span of 43 seconds as back-to-back hooking penalties gave the Friars a golden chance to extend their lead before intermission. However, the Warriors hung in, thwarted a variety of chances, and went into the first intermission down just one.
At the beginning of the second period, Merrimack was forced to stand tall on the penalty kill once again. After killing off the final 43 seconds of Lashyn’s penalty that carried over from the first period with little to no trouble, Merrimack skated on thin ice for the next few minutes. While it seemed as through Providence had doubled their lead on a Connor MacPhee goal, the play was reviewed an overturned, keeping the score at 1-0.
It was unclear to many spectators why the goal was overturned, and Leaman seemed relatively irked by the call.
“[The referees] said that Connor initiated contact with the goalie,” said Leaman. “I watched it between periods. It’s tough, but that’s what they deemed.”
Merrimack picked up holding and boarding penalties just 14 seconds apart early in the second. With another 1:46 of five-on-three time, Providence had a golden opportunity to double its lead. Despite lengthy puck movement from the Friars, no true chances came to fruition until Mansfield exited the box. The disappointment of five-on-three failure was temporary. With moments remaining in a five-on-four, the Friars ended their power play struggles via Shane Luke’s second goal of the season.
While the Friars went just 1-for-4 on the power play, Merrimack cashed in on their man-advantages. They converted on their first two power plays, and their only failed advantage lasted just 13 seconds. Dennehy downplayed the importance of the power play successes, saying that “we really don’t use that as our barometer…what I liked was that we got [the attack set up], got it moving around.”
Merrimack moved the puck especially well on their second power play, one that resulted in Brian Christie beating Gillies from point-blank range. While Craig Wyszomerski put two good chances on net late in the third, Merrimack was unable to beat Gillies once more, and Providence ran out the clock on their first home victory of the season.
