FINAL SCORE: Vermont 3, New Hampshire 2DURHAM, N.H. – Vermont's defense and penalty kill made
Conor O'Neil's late second period goal stand up in the third for his first career game-winner as Vermont posted a 3-2 Hockey East road victory over New Hampshire on Friday night at the Whittemore Center.
The Catamounts improve to 12-16-2 (6-9-2 HEA) with their third straight win in Durham for the first time in program history, while the Wildcats drop to 10-15-4 (4-9-4 HEA). UVM remains tied with Northeastern for sixth place in the standings with five games remaining in the regular season.
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Box Score UNH struck first near the 8-minute mark of the first period just 22 seconds into its opening power play.
Packy Munson (25 saves) kicked out a right-side wrister from Andrew Poturalski, but Tyler Kelleher was waiting in the slot to finish the rebound into an open net.
The Catamounts gained momentum near the end of the period and out-shot New Hampshire 13-11 in the opening 20 minutes. Danny Tirone (32 saves) made his best stop at the right post on a low-angle backhander from
Brady Shaw.
UVM tied the game at the 2:18 mark of the second when
Liam Coughlin followed a
Kevin Irwin chance at the top of the crease.
Jarrid Privitera picked up the first of his two assists on the power play tally.
The teams then traded 5-on-3 tallies for a 2-2 scoreline. Michael McNicholas deked above the right goal line to stuff home a rebound at 4:55 as New Hampshire recaptured the lead.
Alexx Privitera answered near the midway point of the game, hammering a one-timer low blocker side on Tirone off feeds from
Mario Puskarich and his brother Jarrid.
The Catamounts took their first lead with just 26 seconds left in the frame when Shaw's slot attempt was blocked wide left. O'Neil fired a low-angle shot off Tirone's right pad from the goal line, and the rookie followed the play as the puck deflected off his skate into the net.
UVM killed off two UNH power plays in the third period and retained its one-goal lead into the closing minutes. New Hampshire pulled Tirone for an extra skater with roughly a minute and a half left, but the Catamounts blocked a final attempt with five seconds to go and held on for two points.
Vermont finished with a 35-27 edge in shots, registering at least 30 shots on goal for the 19th time in its last 23 games.
The teams return to the Whittemore Center on Saturday (Feb. 13) to close the weekend series at 5 p.m. Radio coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM, SportsJuice.com, and the TuneIn app with
Alastair Ingram and Andy Merritt on the call. All the action will also be streamed live on a pay-per-view basis at UNHwildcats.TV.
