BOSTON, Mass.— UMASS Boston broke open a scoreless game with three goals in a 1:37 span late in the first period on the way to a 6-3 New England Hockey Conference win over Skidmore College Saturday evening.

The loss leaves the Thoroughbreds at 4-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 NEHC. The Beacons are 10-1 and 8-0.

Defense ruled the first 11 minutes of game with neither team able to score. UMB broke through on Ethan Nitkin's third goal of the season at 12:57. The Beacons quickly added goals at 13:23 and 14:34 to take a 3-0 lead into the locker room.

The home team quickly made it 4-0 27 seconds into the second period. Skidmore stopped the run when Max Hegge scored from Tim Allen and Owen Campbell at 8:59. The Beacons made it 5-1 on Nitkin's second goal of the game at 11: 55.

The Thoroughbreds cut it to 5-3 in the third on a pair of goals from Allen. The first coming at 5:35 and the second at 19:04 with the goalie out. Nitkin ended the rally with an empty netter at 19:17.

Brandon Kasel had eight saves over the first 20 minutes in goal, while Brian Kowalski had 25 saves over the final two periods for Skidmore.

The Thoroughbreds close out the first semester on Dec. 7 at Johnson & Wales and Dec. 8 at Suffolk.