Just over a month ago, the Connecticut Huskies ransacked Fortress Alfond, deservedly taking four points with them back to Storrs.

UConn wholeheartedly thumped the Black Bears on that Friday before snagging a game-tying dagger at the death on Saturday. Connecticut’s visit to Orono was the most successful trip an opposition team has had at the Alfond in two seasons.

This weekend, it will be even more difficult for Maine as the Black Bears head into uncharted waters: the Huskies’ brand-new Toscano Ice Forum, where they’re set for a one-round fistfight on Friday night.

“We have those two games in the back of our head and we’ll try to do the same to them in their building,” Josh Nadeau said after Tuesday’s practice.

Floodgates finally opened

The Black Bears will be traveling to Connecticut full of confidence and momentum after their four-goal third period explosion over New Hampshire. This blitz broke the Black Bears’ out of their offensive rut, scoring four or more goals in a game for the first time since December 8th.

To put into context how much Maine’s high-flying offense, which was creating the second most shots on goal in the country at the turn of the New Year, had dropped off in recent weeks. Prior to the Black Bears’ weekend in Providence, Maine had recorded 10 or more shots on goal 55 times out of their 75 periods played this season. In their two games at Providence and first five periods of regulation against UNH, Maine had only recorded ten or more shots on goal in a period twice in eleven frames played.

The Black Bears had also not scored more than three goals in a game since early December.

Saturday’s third period saw them net four.

For Head Coach Ben Barr, it wasn’t just the offensive floodgate opening that was impressive, but the snarl and bite with which the Black Bears played to create those scoring chances.

“Probably our most fiery period that we’ve played in a while. It was good to see that because it’s been missing for three or four games. It was a step in the right direction,” Barr said.

Don’t wake a sleeping Nadeau

The Black Bears had good reason to play with an extra edge late in the game Saturday night after Josh Nadeau was lit up with a high Nikolai Jenson hit in the third period. The officials reviewed the play and only gave Jenson a two-minute penalty. But Hockey East later reviewed the headhunter and deemed the play as warranting Jenson a one-game suspension.

“Obviously, it was bad enough to get a suspension, but it wasn’t bad enough for a five-minute major,” Barr joked on the Black Bear Coaches Show.

Unshaken and unrattled, the only negative impact the hit had on Nadeau was five stitches to his chin. Having targeted Nadeau all weekend, UNH made the fatal mistake and awoke a sleeping giant as an aggravated Nadeau led Maine’s charge, assisting three times and scoring once in the third period.

“Everyone was pretty pissed off that it wasn’t a five-minute major. It looked pretty bad….Everyone was rallying behind him. They were giving it to him the whole game; you don’t like to see that as a fellow teammate, all you want to do is win the game for him after that, so I think everyone kind of banded together, and we had a good third,” Junior defenseman Luke Antonacci said. “He’s a good player, so I think the other teams probably don’t want him on the ice. They probably think if they can just get inside his head they can take over the game. Obviously, that’s not true because he took over the game.”

Barr saw more from Nadeau’s third period than just the four points he put up on the board, highlighting Nadeau’s ability to dig deep and find an extra 10% to his game as being the main reason for his scintillating third period performance.

“Four points in a period is pretty good, but he played with a little bit of fire that has been hit or miss at times this year,” Barr said. “He always plays hard; it’s just that he found a little bit extra, and we’re going to need the next guy to find a little bit extra, and then the next guy to find a little bit extra, and then the next guy. That’s what it takes to win at this time of the year.”

After a fantastic freshman campaign last season alongside his brother Bradly, in which Josh recorded 18 goals and 27 assists, Nadeau has had a tough time this season performing at the same level without his brother. He has fallen into a sophomore slump, currently with seven goals and 14 assists, but Saturday’s sizzling showing could be the sign that Nadeau has broken out.

“Everyone knows I haven’t had a season like last year, and hopefully, this brings me back to what I finished off last year, and I’ll try to build on it,” Nadeau said.

It’s clear that playing without Bradly has significantly impacted Nadeau’s play, no longer having the telepathic chemistry on the ice with his brother. A cerebral playmaker who can slow the game down and see a play develop in his mind seconds before it happens, Nadeau flourished last season because he and Bradly had a sixth sense for what each other was about to do.

They were one brain, two bodies.

But this season, Nadeau has struggled to make the same plays and have the same effectiveness. He often held on to the puck too long, which allowed a lot of shots and passes to be deflected, as well as tried too hard to force a play that might have worked last year with Bradly but not this season without.

“He does play more of a thinking game than most of our guys and probably most players at this level play. When he had his brother, it was like they were thinking together all the time, it was different. He’s actually done a really good job adjusting this year. There’s been times where he gets the puck, and he’s standing still, and he’s used to what’s the play to Brad or whatever, and maybe that’s not the case anymore, and then that turns into a turnover, it turns into a blocked shot or deflected shot or whatever the case may be. So he’s working through that, and it’s a unique scenario for him with who he was playing with before, so it’s definitely a unique scenario for all of us as coaches and a unique scenario for him. He’s done a really good job of finding his way and thinking through it. I’m sure he’s had his frustrations at times, but it seems like he’s starting to figure that piece of it out a little bit,” Barr said.

With such an elite hockey brain, Nadeau, at times this season, has looked not quite on the same wavelength as his teammates, tending to overcomplicate things. Both Barr and Nadeau credit a more simplified approach as getting the best out of him and calibrating him on the same page as his linemates.

“Just keeping it simple, working hard. I’ll say that’s what works all the time when you’re down; you just got to keep working, and good things happen,” Nadeau said. “It’s all mental. Just have to stay strong and keep pushing.”

Another change Nadeau has had to deal with this year isn’t only the loss of his brother, teammate, and linemate of three seasons (two in the BCHL’s Penticton) but the matter of who Nadeau now plays alongside, which hasn’t been consistent all season. Last season, Nadeau played alongside only four different players: his brother in every single game, Lynden Breen for most of the season, Harrison Scott for a couple of games, and Nolan Renwick late in the year.

This season, however, Nadeau has played with eight different teammates, as Barr has desperately tried to find the right combination to get the most out of Nadeau and the team as a whole. Last weekend, Nadeau was put back on a line with Harrison Scott and Thomas Freel, with whom he played for much of the Fall.

“Just getting used to playing with other guys, it’s something that I’ll have to get used to eventually, so I might as well start now, and the past game, it’s been working,” Nadeau said. “I’m trying to find the chemistry with someone. Last game, it worked well with Scott and Freel, and hopefully, it’ll keep going that way for the next few games.”

For the Black Bears to be the best version of themselves and achieve the ultimate goal of hanging a third National Championship banner from the Alfond’s rafters, Maine’s best players will have to be Maine’s best players. While Maine won’t count on Nadeau to record four points in every game, his fiery performance on Saturday will need to be present each and every night.

“Obviously, Josh has the ability to be an elite player at this level. He’s shown signs of it, obviously; last year, he was fantastic; this year, it has been hit or miss, but that was the kid that we need every day down the stretch,” Barr said.

It’s not just Nadeau that Maine will be relying on. The Black Bears aren’t built to have the same one or two players do all the heavy lifting night in and night out. Maine will need to utilize their depth to its full extent. On Saturday, that scoring depth was moving in the right direction, with the likes of Sully Scholle, Brandon Holt, and Charlie Russell all chipping in on the goal sheet.

Maine isn’t a star-studded enough team for anyone in the lineup to have an off night. Their strength is in their depth, and that will need to be what carries them through the playoffs.

“It’s important for our team that we get everybody playing at their best. We’re not going to expect four points from Josh every night if he wants to do that great, but that fire has to be there from everybody,” Barr said.

Injury bug

It’s been a next-man-up mentality for Maine these last couple of weeks as the injury and flu bug have taken their toll on the team. On top of the flu making its rounds through the Black Bears’ dressing room, Maine lost another key forward on Saturday after Ross Mitton left the ice in the third period, not returning to the game. Mitton is considered week-to-week with a knee injury that left the graduate student in a leg brace after the contest.

Although it is a frustrating time in the season for such a key player to pick up an injury, it could have been certainly worse, but time will tell.

“I don’t think it’s anything crazy bad,” Barr said about the nature of Mitton’s injury.

Mitton joins fellow right-winger Anthony Calafiore on the injured list, who hasn’t played since the bye week and is also considered week-to-week, but with a return to the ice not in the immediate future.

On a positive note, Lyden Breen, who has been skating with the team for the past couple of weeks, was seen practicing without the orange, no-contact jersey. This means that his return to play could potentially come this weekend.

Breen is already miles ahead of the original timeline for his return after suffering what looked like a certain season-ending and potentially career-altering broken fibula on November 30th and undergoing surgery on December 6th.

The speedy recovery is nothing short of remarkable. The boost that his return could have on the team could be monumental.

Power play improving

The Black Bears were held goalless in six attempts on the power play last weekend, extending their scoreless slump to 28 opportunities without a goal dating all the way back to January 11 in Lowell. Nonetheless, the man advantage was no longer a detriment to Maine’s momentum.

“I thought the power play was actually really good last weekend,” Barr said. “I thought they gave us positive momentum every time they were out there. That’s really what we’re looking for; it hadn’t been the case for a few games… I thought just like with 5-on-5, the power play gave us juice, especially in that third period.”

Although the power play wasn’t credited with a goal, Maine’s game-tying score on Saturday from Charlie Russell came just seconds after a Wildcat exited the box and was still out of the play. The power play created a lot more chances than they had managed in previous weeks. Aside from Scott ringing one off the post, UNH showcasing a shot-blocking clinic, and a couple of grade-A chances being shot wide, Maine’s PP could have had a couple of goals. Barr sees the power play’s improvement as being down to work ethic in puck retrievals, which was languid in recent weeks but had a spark to it against New Hampshire, never taking any wind out of the Maine sails.

“The first power play on Friday night, I think we retrieved the puck three or four times from a shot scenario,” Barr explained. “Kept them in the zone for over a minute and a half on the first power play on Friday night. That was a really good sign, we didn’t score, but that’s positive momentum for us. If we don’t score, we’ll get it back. We had a lot of juice on that power play, so you go back on 5-on-5, and you feel good about it rather than ‘you know, we just kind of did laps chasing the puck.”

While the special teams have steadily improved in recent weeks, like every aspect of Maine’s play, it has to continue to get better as the playoffs creep closer.

“You’re looking at [special teams] in the big picture; they are both fine right now. If we’re going to continue to get better, and the same with 5-on-5, we have to get better in both of those areas every week. That might be just being a little bit more detailed, winning more battles on the power play and keeping the puck in rather than chasing it 200 feet and costing us 20 seconds.”

Round three with UConn

The Black Bears will be hungry for Husky revenge this Friday, looking to atone for their shortcomings a month ago in Orono. In that Friday game, UConn outworked and outplayed Maine for one of the Black Bears’ poorest showings of the season, falling 4-2 on home ice, the most considerable margin of loss the Alfond has seen this season.

Hands down, Connecticut is having the best season in their history, currently ranked in the Pairwise 9th and polled by USCHO.com at #11. Knocking on the door for their first NCAA Tournament berth in program history, Friday night will be one of the most important games in UConn hockey history.

Playing a hard-nosed, fast, and physical style under 12th-year Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh, the Huskies hounded Maine with their heavy play at the Alfond, swarmed the puck, and played with a confidence and energy superior to the Black Bears’.

“Really good, really aggressive, they’re fast, deep. They took it to us pretty good here on the Friday game. We were better on Saturday, and we still got away with a tie. Going on the road, we’re going to have to be way better than we were a few weeks ago when we played them,” Barr warned.

The Black Bears will need to play fast with and without the puck to combat UConn’s dynamic and aggressive style. Last time out against the Huskies, Connecticut prayed on pouncing on puck mistakes, poorly-timed pinches, and missed defensive assignments.  The Black Bears must not overly expose the puck in dangerous situations. They’ll have to equal UConn’s fast and physical tempo and exploit their aggression by pressuring the puck, forcing turnovers, and attacking up ice right away with no hesitation.

“They’re a pretty chippy team, they hit, they finish every hit, they always get the puck deep, and try to make the right plays all the time, so I think we just have to shove it right back at them, kind of beat them at their own game,” Antonacci said.

One of the most in-form teams in the country, UConn also possesses the hottest scoring stick in the country at the moment in #8 Joey Muldowney (19g-13a-23pts). The sophomore draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, Muldowney scored four goals in a game at the Alfond in January. Since the New Year, Muldowney has scored 14 goals and assisted five times in 12 games played, including securing a hattrick in UConn’s last game against Alaska-Anchorage, one at even-strength, one on the power play, and one shorthanded.

“He’s just a really good player. Everything he shoots is going in right now. He’s got a lot of skill, obviously, he’s a smart offensive player and puts himself in positions to score, and he’s scoring. He’s definitely one of the most dangerous threats in the league right now,” Barr said about Muldowney.

But Muldowney is by no means the only Husky the Black Bears’ will need to worry about, as playmakers #22 Hudson Schandor (8g-22a-30pts) and #19 Jake Richard (8g-18a-26pts) are also dangerous with the puck on their sticks, while #9 Ryan Tattle (15g-7a-22pts) and #17 Jake Percival (9g-6a-15pts) are no strangers to putting the puck in the back of the net.

Connecticut will come into the game well rested, having last week off, while Maine will travel down to Storrs black-and-blue after their Border Battle slugfest. While the Black Bears’ third period on Saturday was one of their best since the Christmas break, Maine still hasn’t put together a full 60 minutes of strong hockey since the Denver game on January 4th.

For Barr, being mentally engaged from the opening puck drop through to the final buzzer will be critical for Maine to stomp into Storrs and take all three points. The Black Bears can’t wait for their backs to be up against the wall in order to snap themselves into focus. Every shift, every play, every detail will have to be approached with full commitment and concentration. One small miscue can very well be the difference between a win and a loss at this time of the year.

“We have to mentally be engaged right from the start. I thought that in the second half of that third period on Saturday, after that hit, we were just all mentally there. Not that we weren’t, but it was hit or miss really for the better part of three and a half games. We weren’t playing poorly; it’s not like we weren’t working hard, but you never know when that one miss-pass, the one missed body check, missed assignment in the d-zone whatever it may be, missed faceoff assignment, that one play when you’re playing at this time of the year in this league might be the difference between winning and losing. So, each moment in the game matters, and when you go on the road, that focus is so much more important. So I think that mental pinpoint focus right from the start of the game on the road against a really good team will be really important,” Barr explained.

One game, 60 minutes, leave it all on the ice.

Have the Black Bears gotten unstuck from the mud with the floodgates now wide open? Or was Saturday night just a flash in the pan?

It’s not the time of the year to stand still.

Time to use that momentum and take the next step forward. The next step in the journey north.