A game of inches.

Back on the ice for the first time since suffering a broken fibula on November 30th, the much beloved Maine Black Bears’ co-Captain Lynden Breen took a drop-pass 1:45 into the 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime frame in Storrs, Connecticut, Friday night.

His interchange high in the offensive zone with Taylor Makar sprung Breen into acres of space, bearing down towards the right faceoff circle. Once at the dot, Breen ripped a scorching wrist shot past the Connecticut Huskies’ netminder, Callum Tung.

But instead of finding twine, the puck pinged off the crossbar, echoing sharply around the brand-new sold-out Toscano Family Ice Forum.

A mere millimeter lower and Breen would have scored one of the most memorable goals in Maine hockey history.

It was not meant to be.

Just a minute later, during one of UConn’s first spells of puck possession in the overtime frame, Makar would take a soft holding penalty to give the Huskies a 4-on-3 power play.

Just over a minute after that, with Maine’s defense collapsed around their net, Connecticut’s Trey Scott fired a heavy shot from the high slot. The shot broke the stick of Black Bear blueliner Bodie Nobes in half, squirting free to Jake Richard, who buried the winner from close range into the gaping net.

Deflating.

Oh, what could have been.

A remarkable return

The announcement of Breen’s return to the lineup for Friday’s contest two hours or so before puck drop sent waves of glee, excitement, and surprise across Black Bear Nation.

When the graduate student and heart and soul of this Maine team went down holding his leg against Rensselaer, many wondered if they would ever see Breen suit up in the blue and white again.

“If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll have a long run, and he can come back and join us. That would be the perfect scenario,” Head Coach Ben Barr said on the Black Bear Coaches Show back on December 4th.

Barr got more than just the perfect scenario.

He received a frankly improbable one.

Breen’s incredibly speedy rehabilitation and recovery after suffering such a gruesome injury and undergoing surgery on December 6th is nothing short of amazing.

Over the past month, Breen was seen back on the Alfond ice far ahead of schedule, first skating by himself, then alongside his teammates in a bright orange no-contact practice jersey, and then just this past week in a regular full-contact jersey. Not surprisingly, Black Bear Nation’s hopes rose of seeing one of their favorites possibly return for the playoffs or even Senior Weekend.

But to see him back on the ice in game action, with three weeks still left in the regular season and just 83 days after what many worried was a career-ending blow, is the stuff of fables.

“He’s an inspirational kid, he always has been, and he’s worked extremely hard to get himself back to where he is today. We’re proud of him, and he’ll be a big part going forward here,” Barr said after Friday’s game.

Barr eased Breen back into the lineup in a fourth-line role, centering a line alongside Nicholas Niemo, Aidan Carney, and occasionally extra-skater Liam Lesakowski.

Lynden Breen returns to the ice after breaking his fibula just 83 days ago. (Photo: Simon French - UMaine Athletics)

As astonishing as Breen’s rapid return to play was the fact that he didn’t look rusty whatsoever, firing three shots on net during the game, not counting his overtime ping off the post. Nor did he look timid when going into the corners, jostling with the physical and aggressive Huskies. Breen had a hop in his step, looked confident with the puck on his tape, and, being the talismanic leader he is, was a noticeable positive presence on the bench

“He just looked like his old self, and I thought he played really well,” Barr said.

Breen played so well that he was moved up to the third line to start the third period, playing between Charlie Russell and Sully Scholle.

An unremarkable performance

Unfortunately for the many scattered Black Bear fans in attendance, Breen’s return was one of the only remarkable aspects of Maine’s game on Friday, as much of the rest of their performance was average at best.

“I just didn’t think we were good enough in any aspect of the game,” Barr said.

Last Saturday’s impressive third period barrage in a Border Battle victory that arguably saw Maine play their best period of hockey in months. But the Black Bears were unable to carry that momentum south and played second-best to Connecticut for most of the night’s contest.

Just as they did at the Alfond a month ago, UConn’s mix of speed and physicality caused the Black Bears fits for much of the game, with Maine unable to match Connecticut in either of these dimensions. Hounded by the Huskies on the forecheck, Maine struggled in clearing their defensive zone cleanly and, penned into their end for minutes at a time, unable to get fresh legs onto the ice.

When breaking out of their D-zone, the Black Bears are best when they keep the game simple, chipping pucks off the glass so their forwards can swarm the bouncing puck with support in the neutral zone. But on Friday, Maine all too often tried to be too cute and clever in their touch-passes out of the zone, looking for their forwards in the center of the ice, a risky way to play when passes aren’t clean and crisp, which they very much weren’t.

Without being able to reliably gain the redline, put the puck in behind the Huskies’ defensemen, and get to work on the forecheck, which should be the strength of their game, Maine could never push back against the Connecticut pressure and build momentum.

With UConn bottling up the middle of the ice, Maine allowed turnovers when trying to exit their zone,  enabling the Huskies to shove the play down the Black Bears’ throats and leave Maine’s forwards still up-ice behind the play. With numbers in attack, UConn’s under-rated forwards could swarm around Maine’s net with a dynamic speed.  Meanwhile, the Black Bears, who were stuck on the ice unable to get to the bench for a change after the turnovers, huffed and puffed, out of gas and unable to deal with the Huskies’ cycle game. The  Huskies skated circles around the Black Bears and kept Maine running around in their own zone for long portions of time, especially in the first two periods. The Black Bears also missed a ton of hits in the neutral zone, unable to slow down the Huskies' attack, which consistently entered the Maine zone with speed and in numbers.

UConn’s first goal, just under six minutes into the game, came from a nothing shot thrown onto net that bounced around before being knocked in by Kaden Shahan. He had been left all alone at the back post after a lost defensive assignment due to a miscommunication between Maine’s two co-Captains. It marked the sixth time in Maine’s last nine games that they conceded the game’s first goal, forced to play catch up once again.

For just about the entire first three minutes of the second period, the Black Bears barely had a sniff of the puck, with UConn maintaining possession inside the Maine end for minutes on end. Eventually, the Huskies’ offensive pressure broke the camel’s back when David Breazeale made the questionable decision not to chip the puck out of the zone but instead went D-to-D over to Brandon Chabrier with a hard pass that handcuffed his defensive partner. With Chabrier unable to handle the hot potato, Joey Muldowney took control at the half-wall and made a centering pass to Ryan Tattle, whose pass from the back post deflected off of a scrambling Breazeale stick, finding a net-crashing Jake Richard to poke it home for UConn’s second goal.

It was a shift and a night to forget for the usually steady Breazeale, who struggled with his decision-making all night, often not clearing the zone and forcing plays that weren’t there. Looking completely unlike his usual self, Breazeale was on the ice for both of UConn’s regulation goals. With their defensive leader struggling, some of the rest of the Black Bears’ blueliners followed suit with shaky performances.

After a bounce-back weekend against UNH, Luke Antonacci took a step backward, struggling to keep his composure and make plays with the puck with UConn’s forecheck in his face. Meanwhile, Bodie Nobes and Brandon Chabrier did some good things, particularly with big defensive plays, but also had their mental lapses in the most inconvenient moments when in possession of the puck.

The Black Bears are built to rely on their strength in depth more than most other teams and are only as strong as their weakest link. Earlier in the season, most notably against BC, BU, and Denver, Maine’s defensemen muddled things up in response to an aggressively hounding forecheck, playing uncomposed and imprecisely with the puck and shooting themselves in the foot with mistake after mistake. An overarching theme this season is that when the pressure mounts against them, Maine can be their own worst enemy with the puck in their own end.

“We’re back to having three or four guys that were unplayable in the game, and we’re not a team that can be that way. Some guys played great, but there were three or four guys that were scared to be out there, and that’s really disappointing. That’s not who we are and not who we can be,” Barr explained.

Power play positives

Friday night wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Black Bears, however, as the power play ended their 0/29 scoreless drought with both of Maine’s goals coming on the man-advantage.

“It was good, two for two, a lot of good pressure,” Barr said.

Although the power play remained goalless last weekend, it was solid, created many chances, consistently regained the puck after shots, hit a post, and created momentum for Maine.

But on Friday, it finally broke through for the first time in nine games dating back to January 11th, only needing 29 seconds and one shot to get the monkey off its back. The goal came off a Frank Djurasevic shot from the center of the ice at the point, taking a wicked double deflection, first off the stick of Josh Nadeau and then off Nolan Renwick’s blade.

The second power play goal tied the game late in the second, this time coming from Maine’s other man-advantage unit. It came after a mad scramble in the crease was somehow thwarted by a sprawled-out Tung, who did just enough to cover the puck and get the whistle before it crossed the goalline, as determined by an official’s review. Moments after the review waved off the goal, Maine got right back to business when Sully Scholle picked up the puck at the point against the boards, got his feet moving,  caught a Husky flat-footed, and dashed into the slot. Scholle’s quick move sucked three UConn defender’s toward him, freeing up Owen Fowler to receive the pass all alone in the left faceoff circle. Fowler slammed home the one-timer past Tung’s glove with authority.

Black Bear Nation was hoping that Maine’s offensive woes had been put in the rearview mirror after a four-goal third period onslaught last time out against UNH. Instead, the woes continued, with Maine unable to score a goal at even-strength in Friday’s game. They created chances, but not enough as they spent too much time suffering in their own end and struggling to get up ice and mount any offensive pushback of their own.

UCon could have run away with this game if it hadn’t been for their numerous missed shots and Albin Boija once again standing on his head.  Without breaking a sweat, the Maine goalie delivered save after save from close-range deflected shots late in the game and most notably stonewalled a Jake Richard penalty shot in the second period.

But the Black Bears, aside from that fateful night at Boston College, have never let the game spiral out of control, no matter how lacking their play is. Even when put under tremendous pressure, running around like headless chickens in their own end, they still manage to suffer through without completely losing control of the game.

Hate to say it, but Connecticut just seems to have Maine’s number.

Get it out of your system now, Black Bears.

Pick yourself up and dust yourself off.

On to Senior Weekend.

It sure is good to have Breener back.