Final: UConn Men’s Hockey Destroyed by No. 5 Providence, 7-2

The UConn men’s hockey team got off to a rough start in Hockey East play, getting drop-kicked by Providence, 7-2. The Huskies penalty kill was especially poor, allowing Providence to score on three of their four power plays.

Karl El-Mir and Alexander Payusov were the goal-scorers for UConn.

The Huskies were without top freshman Ruslan Iskhakov, who was scratched from the lineup with an upper-body injury after being taken off the ice on a stretcher against Quinnipiac on Tuesday night.

Live Updates

Pregame:

UConn lines:

Providence lines:

First Period:

7:56: GOAL - Providence gets on the board first thanks to a wrist-shot from Michael Callahan that beat Adam Huska near-post.

16:30: UConn gets their first power play of the night after Providence’s Brandon Duhaime gets sent to the box for holding.

17:56: The Huskies’ power play ends rather quickly as Alexander Payusov is sent to the box for interference.

18:08: The penalties are coming faster than I can type. Providence’s Vincent Desharnais gets called for cross-checking. UConn gets a 4v3 advantage for 22 seconds and will have a man advantage for 42 seconds after Payusov’s penalty runs out.

Recap: Providence controlled the early portion of the game and limited UConn’s ability to get the puck out of their own zone. The Huskies’ best chances early-on came off interceptions when they could get out on the break but they failed to even get a shot on net on those chances.

There wasn’t much Adam Huska could do on the Friars’ first goal. Michael Callahan took a pass from behind the net and fired a rocket that went bar-down into the net to give Providence a 1-0 advantage.

It was a physical, but not chippy first period, which all came to a head in the final five minutes when three penalties were called in a span of 1:40. Alexander Payusov wiped out a UConn power play with an interference penalty but the Huskies got the extra skater right back after Providence’s Vincent Desharnais got called for cross-checking.

The Huskies picked it up towards the end of the period and overtook the Friars in shots, 14-10.

Second Period:

2:47: UConn’s Jordan Timmons to the box for slashing. Huskies will go on their first penalty kill of the night.

4:00: GOAL - Providence capitalizes on the power play as Josh Wilkins puts the Friars up 2-0. The shot came from straight-on and snuck through a handful of UConn defenders as well as Adam Huska, who was screened by a Providence skater.

6:49: UConn going on the power play after Providence’s Josh Wilkins gets called for interference.

8:01: GOAL - UConn takes advantage of the extra skater and gets a goal back off a beautiful wrist shot from Karl El-Mir. He fired the puck off the far post and in to cut the Providence lead to 2-1.

8:39: UConn back on the penalty kill. Carter Turnbull gets two minutes in the box for charging. Providence scored on their only power play of the night five minutes ago.

10:30: GOAL - Providence scores with one second left on the power play. Huska was sprawled out and couldn’t get up to save the one-timer from in front of the net. The Huskies’ penalty kill unit is 0/2 tonight.

16:28: GOAL - Providence pushes their lead to 4-1. Bad mistake from Huska, who tried to clear the puck his his stick but ended up knocking it off the leg of Kasper Bjornqvist and into the net.

16:45: UConn gets a man advantage after Providence’s Vimal Sukumaran goes to the box for tripping.

18:45: Providence successfully kills the penalty.

19:40: UConn’s Corson Green and Providence’s Scott Conway both sent to the box after a little scrum after the whistle.

Recap: That period couldn’t have ended faster for the Huskies. UConn went to the box three times, gave up three goals and were out-shot 17-8. UConn also struggled on the penalty kill, allowing goals both times they went down a man.

The Huskies did manage to get on the scoreboard during a power play of their own. Karl El-Mir ripped a shot off the iron and into the net to tie the game at 2-1. However, things went south from that point forward for UConn.

Providence scored on a power play goal and came back again six minutes later to stretch the lead to 4-1. The fourth goal was particularly rough as Huska tried to clear the puck with his stick but accidentally knocked it off the leg of Kasper Bjornqvist and into the net.

Third Period:

1:36: Power play for UConn. Providence’s Jack Dugan goes to the box for interference after he basically tackled Adam Huska.

2:09 - GOAL: UConn makes quick work of the man advantage as Alexander Payusov scores his second goal of the season to bring the deficit to just two goals.

3:28: UConn back on the power play after Providence’s Ben Mirageas gets whistled for holding.

5:28: Friars successfully kill the power play. They lead 4-2.

6:45: After a pair of Providence penalties, it’s UConn’s turn to head to the box. Roman Kinal given two minutes for slashing. Huskies’ penalty kill is 0/2 tonight.

8:45: UConn kills their first penalty of the night.

10:02: UConn’s Jachym Kondelik to the box for a face-off violation.

10:40 - GOAL: Providence scores their third power play goal of the night to extend their lead to 5-2. Adam Huska will stay in net for the Huskies.

11:17: UConn will have an extra skater after Providence’s Jason O’Neill gets put in the penalty box for cross-checking.

16:16: UConn has pulled Adam Huska, chasing a three-goal deficit.

19:04 - GOAL: Providence tacks on their sixth goal of the night with an empty-netter.

19:18 - GOAL: Providence scored again. 7-2.

Recap: UConn is going to want to get out of Providence as fast as they can after tonight. Things went from bad to worse to awful in a very short period of time.