The River Hawks relied on strong special teams play and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 35 total saves — several of the incredible variety — to propel UMass Lowell to a matchup with Hockey East foe Boston College on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over the Mavericks of Minnesota State-Mankato.

Joseph Pendenza scored on a shorthanded breakaway in the first period to get Lowell on the board first, putting a slick move on Maverick’s goaltender Cole Huggins before squeezing a backhander through Huggins’ legs and into the net.

“We practice a lot on getting that long stick on tat d-man for the penalty kill,” Pendenza said. “I just went out there with a long stick and he ended up shooting it into my body. i just went on a breakaway. I had to escape the goalie one way and just put it in the five-hole.”

Minnesota State pressed hard throughout the game, especially at the beginning of each period. Luckily for the River Hawks, Hellebuyck was up to the task.
“He played out of his head,” Mavericks head coach Mike Hastings said. “It should be an unbelieveable final.”

Action swayed back and forth throughout the game, with each team failing to capitalize on most of their respective power plays and odd-man rushes. After only managing seven shots on goal in the first period, the Mavericks responded with 16 shots in the second.

A tense third period culminated in an explosive final two minutes. Minnesota State pulled their goalie with just over a minute left to play, but Lowell’s Zach Kamrass heaved a rink-long shot that found the back of the empty net to put his team up 2-0.

It looked like Hellebuyck was going to earn his third consecutive shutout, but Kamrass’ goal would prove to be the game winner when the Mavericks’ Zack Stephan finally put a rebound past Hellebuyck on a late power play. The goal came with 10.8 seconds left in the game but proved to be too little too late, as Lowell stayed strong through the final seconds to seal their 2-1 victory.

The game against BC should be a charged affair with Hockey East’s regular season champions facing off against the playoff champions. BC’s high-powered offense will seriously test Hellebuyck and Lowell’s lock-down defense.

“We do know our opponent,” head coach Norm Bazin said. “They’re a great hockey team.”