The Massachusetts hockey team dropped its third straight game Friday night falling to No. 11 UMass-Lowell 4-1 at Mullins Center.
UMass (7-11-4, Hockey East) has now lost five straight conference games with its last point coming in a 1-1 (OT) tie against Merrimack Nov. 21, 2015. The last HEA win for the Minutemen was against Connecticut on Nov. 7, 2015.
UML (13-4-4, 8-2-3 HEA) scored a pair of goals in the first period and never looked back. Adam Chapie got the River Hawks on the board just one minute, 44 seconds into the game with Nick Master and John Edwardh each credited for the assists.
Michael Kapla scored the evidential game-winning goal on the power play with 6:39 left in the first period after Minutemen forward Ray Pigozzi was called for hooking.
Shane Walsh scored UMass’ lone goal of the game with 10:59 remaining in the third period with Steven Iacobellis and Ivan Chukarov assisting on the play. Walsh’s goal was his team-leading 15th of the season, with the next closest Minutemen being Pigozzi and Dennis Kravchenko, who each have seven.
Gage Hough and Dylan Zink each scored second and third period goals respectively for UML.
Former UMass goaltender Kevin Boyle made 17 saves for the River Hawks, while Minutemen goaltender Nic Renyard made 33 saves in the loss.
The two teams will face each other tomorrow night in the back end of a home-and-home series. Puck drop from Tsongas Center is set for 7 p.m.
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.
