Notre Dame hockey: Irish offense shut down

LOWELL, Mass. -- Massachusetts-Lowell junior center Stephen Buco scored a first-period power-play goal and it proved to be the only goal the River Hawks would need as they blanked Notre Dame, 1-0, in front of 6,515 at the Tsongas Center on Friday night.

River Hawks goaltender Connor Hellebucyk stopped 40 shots to pick up his second shutout of the season. Notre Dame out shot UMass.-Lowell, 40-28.

Steven Summerhays made 28 saves, giving up just the one goal to suffer the loss.

The loss dropped the No. 6 Irish to 8-4-1 overall and 2-2-1 in Hockey East. The 11th-ranked River Hawks won their fourth straight to improve to 9-4-0 and 3-1-0 in conference play.

The River Hawks took advantage of a pair of Notre Dame penalties late in the first period to score the only goal of the game.

Garrett Peterson went off for holding at 13:21 and Jeff Costello followed at 14:15 to give UMass.-Lowell a two-man advantage for 1:06.

The Irish killed Peterson's penalty, but with 29 seconds left on Costello's, Buco got his third of the season at 15:46, beating Steven Summerhays with a back-hander from the right side of the goal. Left wing Ryan McGrath kept the puck in at the blue line by the right boards and threw a pass down low to Buco who in the same motion back-handed the puck over the Notre Dame goaltender for the 1-0 lead.

Notre Dame almost got the equalizer just two minutes into the second period when Sam Herr rang a shot off the post to the right of Hellebucyk as he was on a two-on-one with Peter Schneider.

The Irish had three power plays in the period and had the shot advantage 12-9.

The third period saw Notre Dame dominate possession, with a 15-6 edge in shots. They would get Summerhays off with one minute to go for an extra attacker, but Hellebucyk and the River Hawks held on.

The last time Notre Dame was shut out in a game came on Feb. 17, 2012 when Miami's Connor Knapp made 31 saves in a 3-0 win.

Game two of the series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Tsongas Arena. The game will be televised by the New England Sports Network (NESN) and is available on cable and satellite networks.

1st Period: UML: Stephen Buco 3 (Ryan McGrath, Adam Chapie), PPG, 15:46; Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; UML: 0 for 0 minutes.

2nd Period: No Scoring; Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UML: 3 for 6 minutes.

3rd Period: No Scoring; Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; UML: 0 for 0 minutes.

Shots On Goal: Notre Dame 13 - 12 - 15 - 40; UMass.-Lowell 12 - 10 - 6 - 28

Goaltender Saves: ND: Steven Summerhays (59:00) 11 - 10 - 6 - 27; UML: Connor Hellebucyk (60:00) 13 - 12 - 15 - 40

Power Plays: ND: 0 for 3; UML: 1 for 3

Attendance: 6,515