LOWELL, Mass. — With the game still in the first period, Maine Coach Red Gendron already needed to talk to his players.

A timeout was called 13:08 into the period, with the Black Bears already trailing 2-0 against UMass-Lowell.

“I told them you (have) to do the things we do that work, and not try to do other stuff,” Gendron said.

“We (have) to battle, get pucks deep, put pucks on net, not pass up chances to shoot the puck, blah, blah, blah. … But that’s not what happened.”

Maine did little well, and UMass-Lowell beat the Black Bears 4-1 Sunday afternoon at the Tsongas Center.

Maine generated few chances, going 0 for 10 on power plays. The Black Bears had only nine shots through two periods and finished with 21.

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UMass-Lowell, was 2 for 7 on the power play and had 29 shots.

Maine, which beat the River Hawks 5-2 on Friday in Orono, dropped to 4-6-2 overall and 1-3 in Hockey East. UMass-Lowell, ranked fifth in both national polls, is now 7-3-2 and 3-1.

“I think our energy level was very good. I thought we lacked that on Friday,” said UMass-Lowell forward Joe Gambardella, one of four goal scorers for the River Hawks.

Conversely, Maine came out flat. The Black Bears are 0-4-2 away from Orono.

“We have to be able to play a certain way every game, whether it’s at home or on the road, and we didn’t do that,” Gendron said. “We didn’t play hard enough or smart enough.”

Just two minutes into the game, UMass-Lowell’s Colin O’Neill was left uncovered in the right circle. Rob McGovern stopped O’Neill’s shot, one of his 25 saves.

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But the River Hawks kept coming. At 5:34, Ryan Lohin stood open outside the crease and directed Dylan Zink’s shot for a 1-0 lead.

John Edwardh made it 2-0 at 13:08. Maine turned the puck over, and Edwardh skated past a defender, took a pass in the slot, deked McGovern and scored past the goalie’s extended right skate.

Gendron immediately used his timeout.

“You (have) to bring you’re A-game in college hockey,” Gendron said.

That’s what UMass-Lowell did.

“I didn’t think we were very good at pressuring the puck on Friday. We got back to attacking,” River Hawks Coach Norm Bazin said. “When we attack, we obviously give up less shots.”

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In the second period, the River Hawks got a five-on-three power play, and Gambardella scored on a rebound at 12:59.

Maine got on the board at 15:24 when Dane Gibson tipped a pass from Cam Brown, redirecting it under the crossbar.

But another power-play goal at 5:30 of the third provided UMass-Lowell with plenty of insurance.

The Black Bears completed one power play at the start of the third period and had three more after that, but nothing to show for it.

“The power play was a microcosm, basically, of how we played,” Gendron said. “We pass up chances to shoot. One guy would carry the puck and everybody else was watching. We weren’t sharp the whole night.”

The Black Bears play two games at Vermont next weekend, then visit Portland for a game against Brown on Nov. 26.

Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH


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