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Preview and Live Updates: UConn Men's Hockey at No. 5 UMass Lowell, 1 p.m. SNY/NESN

The Huskies will be going for the sweep in the second game of this weekend series.

By Tim Fontenault
Shawn Pauly's return to the lineup helped spark the Huskies against UMass Lowell Saturday.
Shawn Pauly's return to the lineup helped spark the Huskies against UMass Lowell Saturday.
Steve Quick/The UConn Blog

Third Period

UConn wins 2-1. The Huskies did not let the late goal in the second period get to them, as they came back and controlled the third period. UConn outshot UML 17-6 in the third and got goals from Shawn Pauly and Tage Thompson to complete its first ever weekend sweep in Hockey East.

After Pauly's goal, a deflection past Kevin Boyle, UConn was on the wrong end of a whistle for a penalty shot, and a questionable one at that. The penalty shot from Ryan McGrath did not amount to a threat for Rob Nichols, who pushed it away with ease.

Thompson scored on the power play minutes later. He becomes the second UConn player to score in back-to-back games (Spencer Naas completed the feat Saturday). His goal was his seventh of the seasoning his third in two days. All seven goals have been on the power play.

Second Period

UMass Lowell leads 1-0 after a goal late in the second period. For most of the first 40 minutes, it was UMass Lowell going to the penalty box, but UConn found its way there three times in the final six minutes. The third time was the killer. Joe Masonius went back for hooking after an elbowing call a few minutes before, but his second penalty started before Miles Gendron's could end. UConn got Gendron back to finish out the period five on four, but the River Hawks took advantage of the extra space.

With five seconds left, Adam Chapie buried his shot off a pass to the far post. That should give UML a serious advantage heading into the third period.

The River Hawks took nine of the final 10 shots in the second period and now have a 24-14 shot advantage.

First Period

UConn survives the first period and enters the break in a scoreless draw. That is not to say the Huskies played poorly in the opening 20 minutes, but UMass Lowell did have a 14-4 shot advantage. UConn did not have a clear-cut scoring chance and was unsuccessful on its first power play. The Huskies will have 49 seconds with a five-on-four advantage to start the second period after a late holding penalty on Niklas Folan.

The big chances went the way of the River Hawks, but Rob Nichols was up to the task. On that late power play, Edmonton Oilers prospect Evan Campbell controlled a face-off in the River Hawks' zone. He took it down the ice with no one between him and Nichols. The junior goaltender crept out a little bit and stonewalled Campbell.

Other than that, UML's dangerous chances came from the blue line, with great point shots from Dylan Zink and Tyler Mueller.

Preview

After ending an eight-game losing streak last night in Hartford, Mike Cavanaugh's UConn Huskies are looking to complete the sweep on the road against UMass Lowell.

The Huskies (4-10-0, 2-7-0 Hockey East) got back to playing the blue-collar style of hockey that made them a nuisance against Boston University early in the season in their win Saturday afternoon. Two power play goals from Tage Thompson and goals from Spencer Naas and Corey Ronan propelled UConn to a win that ended a nine-game unbeaten run for UMass Lowell (10-2-4, 6-1-3).

Things worked so well for UConn Saturday, Cavanaugh decided to keep everything exactly the same Sunday, as the Huskies go for a sweep. The Huskies have not swept a series since defeating Atlantic Hockey rival American International late in January 2014.

After losing only its second game of the season and first since October, UMass Lowell is shaking things up a little bit.

Dylan Zink will be a player to watch for the River Hawks. He was relatively nonexistent Saturday, but he had two great games against UConn last season and is the reigning Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week.

The UConn/IMG Radio Network will have the radio call for today's game, with Joe D'Ambrosio and Rich Coppola above the ice for the call. NESN and SNY will also have today's game, with Tom Caron, famous for his Boston Red Sox studio coverage, and Billy Jaffe, seen regularly on NESN's Boston Bruins coverage, will be on the call today.

The radio feed is embedded below.

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