The number-one star of this game was the no-brainer of the century.
Although his team was outshot 52-17, Merrimack’s Rasmus Tirronen stopped all but one, leading the Warriors to a 2-1 win over Massachusetts-Lowell.
Tirronen’s 51 saves were a career high, topping the 40 and 41 he recorded in back-to-back nights in January’s Minnesota tournament. Coincidentally, the 41 saves came against the River Hawks.
“So much for analytics,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy quipped. “At the end of the day, it’s about scoring goals. We scored two; they scored one.
“I thought our guys played hard. We didn’t play very well, but I’ll take hard every day. If we play hard and get good goaltending, we’ll win a lot of hockey games, especially in this building.”
The win gave Merrimack a 9-1-2 record this season at Lawler Rink.
Despite recording the career high in saves, Tirronen was low key almost to the point of bemused boredom when asked how the performance ranked among others in his career.
“Other than [the career save mark], it’s a nice win,” he said. “I had a couple not-so good games, so it’s nice to be back where I want to be. It felt good. I can’t say how it ranks, probably top 10.”
Tirronen also gave the obligatory credit to his defensemen, which in this case was more than lip service. In addition to the shot disparity, Lowell out-attempted Merrimack, 94-29, with the defense blocking 12 shots. The penalty kill also kept the River Hawks off the scoreboard, despite six man advantages.
“I can’t say enough about those guys,” Tirronen said. “They’re a huge part of it, especially on the penalty kill, which has been really good for us this year. When we play hard, we block shots.”
Chris LeBlanc and Marc Biega scored the goals for the Warriors, who had gone 0-2-1 in their last three contests.
For Lowell, the losses are beginning to mount — four straight and five in the last six games — but coach Norm Bazin counted the game as a positive in terms of how well his team played.
“That was the best hockey game we’ve played in a while,” he said. “Our goal was to come here and improve. I thought we did that tonight.
“There’s no question that this type of effort will win you a lot of games, but tonight, it didn’t. You can credit their goaltending and their team defense, a lot of things.
“We’re going to have to improve in a couple areas. Our power play needs to get a little bit better.”
On the plus side, the River Hawks penalty kill unit, which had struggled mightily in recent games, held Merrimack scoreless in its two chances.
The two teams face off back in Lowell on Saturday, the back half of their home-and-home series.
Lowell’s territorial advantage, which became gargantuan by the end of the game, began modestly in the first period. The River Hawks outshot Merrimack, 12-6, but most of that advantage came on the power play and from the perimeter.
Merrimack’s Brett Seney got the game’s first quality opportunity in the opening minutes, and though Lowell countered with a few flurries, the Warriors got on the board first at 15:37.
Justin Mansfield sent LeBlanc off on a breakaway up the left side and as Lowell defenders unsuccessfully raced to catch up, the sophomore froze goaltender Kevin Boyle. Almost whiffing on the shot, LeBlanc released a slow change-up along the ice that beat Boyle five-hole.
The second period proved to be a more exaggerated version of the first, with Merrimack getting almost no quality opportunities at all while getting outshot 19-7. Nonetheless, the Warriors expanded their lead to 2-0.
Barely more than a minute into the period, Michael Fallon almost tied it, spinning around on the doorstep with his shot, but Tirronen made the stop. The chances continued for Lowell, first Ryan McGrath from the left, then a Michael Louria tip of a Dylan Zink shot from the point, followed by an Evan Campbell wrister from the slot. The River Hawks maintained territorial domination with McGrath getting a testing shot off from inside the right faceoff dot. Through it all, though, Tirronen stymied the River Hawks.
This allowed Biega to score a potentially morale-crushing goal at 13:42, shooting from the right and sneaking one past Boyle for the 2-0 lead.
The River Hawks refused to quit, however, and dominated the third period even more significantly, outshooting Merrimack, 21-4.
They got to within one just 4:39 into the period when Adam Chapie deflected a Zink shot from the point.
Their pressure continued, preventing the Warriors from getting their first shot of the period until the 13:41 mark, but Tirronen remained the story, especially on a C.J. Smith shot from the slot.
When Lowell went on the power play with 2:31 remaining in regulation, Bazin pulled Boyle to make the advantage six on four, but Tirronen and the shot-blocking Warrior defense completed the win.
