It was a classic goalie battle Friday at the Mullins Center.
It would have been understandable if UMass hockey goalie Filip Lindberg looked rusty on Friday against No. 18 Providence, as it was just the junior’s third start of the season and the first since a Nov. 28 meeting against Boston College. Instead Lindberg looked anything but, stopping all 25 shots he faced in regulation.
Unfortunately for the Minutemen, Friar goalie Jaxson Stauber was equally impressive, not allowing anything to get past him during regulation to force overtime with nothing showing on the scoreboard for either side. The strong play in goal continued in the five minute 3-on-3 overtime with neither squad able to put one home, leading to a shootout.
After four unsuccessful shootout attempts from UMass and three from Providence, Friar Brett Berard finally slipped one past Lindberg to give Providence a 1-0 shootout win.
“It was a good college hockey game,” Minutemen coach Greg Carvel said. “Providence is a good team. It was the first time this year we lost momentum of the game and had a hard time reeling it back in. I thought the first 10 minutes we were really good, the last 20 we were really good and the middle 30 we had to chase the game because we kept getting sent to the penalty box.”
The loss is the third in a row for UMass (9-5-2, 9-5-2 Hockey East), who had won seven in a row before the skid.
The Minutemen were sent to the sin bin six times in the first two periods and once in the third period, but stopped all seven of the Friars (6-5-2, 6-5-2 HE) man-up chances.
Conversely, UMass went to the power play just three times. Constantly having to play a man-down proved to be too difficult for the Minutemen, as they were unable to get any sort of rhythm on offense. Carvel was not a fan of some of the calls against his team.
“My team does not have a discipline problem,” Carvel said. “Apparently, they took checking out of hockey and forgot to tell our players. We had six penalties through two periods. It’s hard to play when you have to kill the whole game. It’s tough to get momentum going when the other team gets that many power plays.”
After being outshot 20-9 in the first two periods, the Minutemen offense came alive in the third period, showing signs of life after not having much go their way on the offensive end after 40 minutes.
UMass out-shot Providence 17-5 in the final 20 minutes of regulation, multiple times having chances with loose pucks around the net, but none finding their way into the back of the net.
That momentum carried over into overtime, where the Minutemen had two open ice chances to win the game in the fast paced 3-on-3 action, but it was Stauber who came up with two saves, one on a breakway from Zac Jones, to force the shootout.
“We weren’t very good for two periods,” Carvel said. “The third period we played our game and I thought we carried that into overtime, we had chances in overtime.”
Lindberg got the start for Matt Murray after UMass lost its last two contests going into Friday’s game, both against Boston University.
“He was better,” Carvel said. “He earned it and he showed it. He was awesome. It was a great decision. I don’t think it was low scoring because there weren’t any chances. It was more about goalies playing particularly well and a couple puck bounces. It’s two good defensive teams but it’s not like there weren’t any chances throughout the game.”
The Minutemen and the Friars meet again today, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. at Schneider Arena in Providence. Carvel said he would decide on Saturday who would start for his team in goal.