LOWELL -- The UMass-Lowell River Hawks came back from 2-1 down in the final five minutes of the third period to steal a 3-2 decision from the Bentley Falcons on Sunday afternoon at the Tsongas Center to bounce to the .500 mark for the first time this season at 7-7-1.
UML has now won three straight and five of its last seven games, dating back to a pair of shutouts over Beanpot foes Northeastern and Harvard before the break. On the flip side, the Falcons are 6-9-1 and sit in the midst of a five-game winless streak as they head into a Saturday night date at Northeastern's Matthews Arena next week.
Rookie Andrew Gladiuk put the Falcons on top at 4:25 of the final stanza as he beat UML junior Doug Carr high from the left side for his tenth goal of the season, which ranks second on the team.
The River Hawks had two quick answers within 11 seconds to steal the victory as sophomore Stephen Buco cut through the defense and beat Bentley's Branden Komm into a virtually open net, who was caught off guard on the play. At 15:49, McGrath flicked the wrister under the crossbar for his second of the game.
Carr bounced back from an early goal off the stick of Falcon junior Brett Gensler in the first period and delivered a fine performance with 24 saves, including nine in the first and third periods. He improved to 4-6-1 on the season, starting over freshman Connor Hellebuyck for the first time since Dec. 1.
Joshua Kummins is the Hockey East beat writer for SB Nation Boston. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.