STORRS, Conn. – Down but not out.

The No. 18 UMass hockey team overcame a 2-0 first period deficit to beat No. 11 UConn, 5-4, on Friday afternoon at Toscano Family Ice Forum.

Joey Muldowney had both of the Huskies’ first period goals, but a hat trick from Jack Musa was the Minutemen’s X-factor in the come-from-behind victory.

“He’s got amazing hand-eye coordination,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel — who earned win No. 250 of his college coaching career – said on Musa. “Even, I think it was his first goal, the back post from [Cole O’Hara], you got to have good hand-eye coordination to make sure you finish that off. He shoots it a ton but he’s as talented a player as we have.”

Less than a minute into the second period, Musa got the Minutemen (15-11-2) on the board with a power play goal. Musa’s first of the night was a deflection 34 seconds into the frame to make it 2-1.

UConn (14-10-3) responded with a power play goal of its own midway through the second period to go back on top by two goals at 3-1, but another tally from Musa, this time off the rush, kicked off a run of four straight goals for UMass.

“It was tough going down 2-0 in the first but we got right back after it early in the second with a power play goal and we just started rolling after that,” Musa said.

Musa guided in a pass from O’Hara on a 2-on-1 rush at 9:56 of the second, cutting UConn’s advantage to 3-2.

The third period saw a continuation of the Minutemen’s puck-hungry style of play as Dans Locmelis brought it to 3-3 on a wrister from the slot 1:50 after the period’s opening puck drop.

Locmelis was robbed of a sure goal against Maine last weekend in the final seconds, but the Boston Bruins draft pick got rewarded this time against the Huskies with his sixth of the season.

“He’s always bound to get one,” O’Hara said on Locmelis. “He’s a good goalscorer. We’re not too worried about him and we knew he’d get it back.”

“He’s scoring too and Kenny Connors is scoring,” Carvel said. “It’s funny, I’ve learned this during my time in pro is when you get a better player injured like [Aydar] Suniev, sometimes it’s a good thing because it forces other guys to step up and now you’re seeing [Locmelis] and [Connors] score and fill that hole, where they haven’t scored a lot in the first half.”

Suniev has missed the last five games with a lower-body injury.

Another deflection from Musa gave the Minutemen their first lead of the night at 4-3 shortly after the equalizer, before Connors filled the net again at 6:38 of the third. Connors’ strike upped his scoring streak to five straight games, while putting UMass ahead, 5-3, on Friday.

The Huskies made it a one-goal game with an extra attacker with just under a minute left on the clock, but the Minutemen held on to claim three crucial Hockey East points.

“This is a hard rink to win in,” O’Hara said. “Tight rink, it comes at you fast, but that comeback was great, it felt really good. We’ve been kind of looking for that push back these past few weeks and it was good to get one here.”

Along with Musa’s three goals, O’Hara (two assists) and Lucas Mercuri (two assists) concluded with multi-point nights.

UMass goalie Michael Hrabal had one of his busier outings with 42 saves, including 22 in the second period. Huskies netminder Tyler Muszelik made 29 saves in the loss.

Given the nature of the win over UConn, it could be one to look back on should UMass go on a run to end the regular season.

“We’ve done this on the road at Providence, at BU, we’ve done it before,” Carvel said. “It’s a tough league. You got to bring your A-plus game to win and that’s what we did for most of the night tonight.”

The Minutemen’s ‘W’ moved them up to 15th in the Pairwise ratings and seventh place in the Hockey East standings (21 points).