LOWELL, Mass. — Massachusetts-Lowell will return to the TD Garden to defend its back-to-back Hockey East titles.
The River Hawks defeated Notre Dame, 6-4, taking the third game in their best-of-three quarterfinal series Sunday night. The loss ends Notre Dame’s season.
Lowell didn’t dominate territorially the way it did while winning the opening game in the series, 5-0. In fact, the River Hawks were outshot 36-17.
However, they dominated almost as much on the scoreboard until a third-period push by the Irish. The River Hawks led 2-0 little more than four minutes in, 4-1 by the end of the first period, and 6-2 after two.
The Irish scored twice in the third period, however, and generated chances with an extra attacker, but could not pull to within one.
The age-old refrain of playoffs coming down to goaltending and special teams proved accurate once again. Notre Dame’s Cal Petersen allowed six goals on 13 shots before getting pulled after two periods. By comparison, Lowell’s Kevin Boyle stopped 34-of-36 shots for the win.
“You can’t give up six goals on 13 shots and expect to win a hockey game,” UND coach Jeff Jackson said. “But he’s the guy who got us here. He’s faced a lot of shots over the last few weeks. I certainly don’t put it on him.”
As for special teams, the River Hawk penalty kill allowed only a single goal in eight Notre Dame chances, that one coming on a five-on-three, while the power play converted 2-of-4.
Even more significantly, Adam Chapie scored a gargantuan shorthanded goal early in the first to give the River Hawks a 2-0 lead.
“That was a huge goal,” Jackson said. “Any time you give up a shorthanded goal, it’s a momentum goal and it’s deflating.
“Over the last few weekends, [our power play] hasn’t been sharp, giving up a couple shorthanded goals. Guys pressing and making mistakes wound up costing us.”
The shorthander was no fluke. It was the tenth of the year for the River Hawks, tops in the nation.
“In the playoffs it’s more important than ever to have good special teams,” Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “I thought this whole weekend our special teams were pretty good and our goaltending was very good.
“Kevin [Boyle] is coming into his own. I think he’s playing better and better. It’s a good time to be doing that. With special teams, it’s a giod time to cranking that up also.”
Defensemen Zack Kamrass (Lowell) and Robbie Russo (Notre Dame) led the goalscoring for the two teams.
“Zack Kamrass was an absolute man out there,” Bazin said. “He was determined. It was one of Zack’s games. He took it over.”
Despite a roster filled with 14 freshmen and only three seniors, Lowell now moves on to the TD Garden for a Friday night semifinal match with either Vermont or Providence.
“The older guys have to educate the younger generation to what they’re going to face,” Bazin said. “It’s great that they’re getting this experience [provided to them]. The fact that the senior group has four 20-win seasons is spectacular.
“We have a chance at another trophy. We want to seize the opportunity and go for it. It’s exciting. We live to play another day.”
After Notre Dame’s third-period comeback to win the second game of the series, this contest opened with momentum on the side of the Irish. That lasted all of 2:22. C.J. Smith beat Cal Petersen glove-side, low from the slot and Lowell took a lead it would never surrender.
Chapie scored what was arguably the goal of the game with his shorthander at 4:17. He broke up the left wing, deked and slid the puck underneath Petersen’s pads.
Russo got one back at 8:54 on a delayed penalty, making it 2-1, and the Irish generated considerable pressure on the following power play, including a crossbar hit by Russo, but couldn’t tie it.
At 12:11, the River Hawks reestablished their two-goal lead when Petersen opted to swat the puck into his left corner instead of tie it up. A.J. White then passed it out to Michael Fallon in the opposite faceoff circle, where he ripped it high into the net.
After Notre Dame’s Jordan Gross hit another crossbar, Kamrass got his first on the power play, wristing it home from the right point.
Lowell didn’t sit on the 4-1 first-period lead. Five minutes into the second, Tyler Mueller shot from the left point through traffic and found pay dirt.
On a five-on-three power play, Russo countered with his second goal, but then so did Kamrass at even strength, making it a 6-2 lead.
Peter Schneider and Gross made things interesting with five minutes left in regulation, and with 2:29 remaining, Jackson pulled Chad Katunar, who had replaced Petersen in the Notre Dame net after two, but the River Hawks held firm for the win.
