ORONO- Aidan McDonough scored two second period goals, including the game winner on Saturday night to help lead the #15 Northeastern Huskies past the Maine Black Bears 4-1 in a men’s Hockey East game before 3,029 fans at Alfond Arena.
The Black Bears, who rallied from a 2-0 third period deficit on Friday night to force overtime and gain an extra point in the Hockey East standings with a shootout victory, battled to a scoreless first period with the Huskies. The middle period is where the game was won for Northeastern. NU scored three times in a span of just 2:48, ending the night in net for Maine starter Jacob Mucitelli. McDonough started the flurry, beating his man off a faceoff win and getting to the front of the goal, receiving a pass from behind the net by Justin Hryckowian and slamming in into the cage past Mucitelli at 2:21. A penalty on Killian Kiecker-Olsen 17 seconds later gave the guests a powerplay. McDonough converted for the game winner at 3:19. At 5:09, a shot by Matt Choupani handcuffed and surprised Mucitelli and snuck into the net to make it 3-0. Maine got their only goal of the night on a hard snap shot from the high slot by Nolan Renwick at 11:37. The Black Bears had several opportunities on the extra man, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances finishing 0-4 on the powerplay. Jakov Novak added an empty net goal at 19:12 of the third period that ended the scoring.
Brandon Holt and Donovan Villeneuve-Houle added an assist each in the loss for Maine, who falls to 2-4-1 overall and 0-1-1 in Hockey East. Mucitelli had 15 saves in the 25:09 he played, while Victor Ostman made eight and didn’t allow a goal over the final 33:40. Along with the two goals from McDonough, Hryckowian and Hunter McDonald had two assists a piece in the win for Northeastern. Devon Levi had 35 saves, as the Huskies improve to 4-2-2, 3-2-1 in HE play. It doesn’t get any easier for the Black Bears as they are back on the road next weekend for another Hockey East series against a nationally ranked opponent as they face the #10 UConn Huskies on Friday and Saturday.
