The Northeastern Huskies scored three times in a span of 1:37 on a major powerplay in the third period on Friday night, and skated to a 6-3 upset win over #6 Maine in men’s Hockey East action at Matthews Arena in Boston.
In a pretty evenly matched first period, Northeastern got the only goal when Dylan Hryckowian tallied at 11:10. Maine turned up the offense in the second, and outshot the Huskies 16-5 while also scoring twice to take the lead. After a shot by Gunnarwolfe Fontaine went off the crossbar behind Victor Ostman 1:46 into the stanza, Josh Nadeau took advantage of a turnover by NU at their own blue line and skated down the low slot and fired a shot blocker side past Cameron Whitehead at 2:05 to make it 1-1. The hosts had a better shift later in the period, and Liam Walsh had a rebound on his stick in front but Ostman flashed out his pads for the save to keep it tied. About 44 seconds later, Cole Hanson got to a loose puck in the low slot and lifted a backhander that deflected off the body of Nolan Hayes and into the back of the net at 17:14 to make it 2-1 Black Bears.
Northeastern came out determined in the third period, and would tie it back up at 2-2 on the first goal of the season by Hunter McDonald at 3:10 on a 4 on 4 situation. Just 1:25 after that game tying goal, Maine forward Ben Poisson was called for a five minute major for elbowing and ended up being a turning point in the game. The Black Bears had killed off 19 consecutive powerplay opportunities, but the Huskies had other thoughts. NU would gets goals by Alex Campbell at 6:41, Justin Hryckowian at 7:04, and Jack Williams at 8:18 on the major extra man chance to take control of the contest 5-2. Hanson would get the guests back within 5-3 with his second of the night but with just 46 seconds remaining with Ostman pulled for an extra attacker. Northeastern made it a second win in a row over a top 10 team when Vinny Borgesi capped off a five goal period for his team with an empty netter with just over one second left. Maine is now 0-14-2 in their last 16 games at Matthews Arena, with their last win coming almost 12 years ago on February 25, 2012.
Hanson with two goals and Josh Nadeau with one goal and one assist were the only multiple point scorers in the loss for Maine. Ostman made 26 saves. The Black Bears suffer just their second loss since December 1, falling to 16-5-2 and 8-4-1 in Hockey East. They had been 12-0 this season when leading after two periods. Grayson Arnott and Nolan Renwick both returned to the lineup, after being out injured since December 3 and December 9 respectively. Campbell, Justin Hryckowian, and Borgesi each had one goal and two assists for Northeastern. Dylan Hryckowian and Williams added one goal and one assist a piece. Whitehead stopped a season-high 29 shots in between the pipes. The Huskies improve to 11-12-2 and 6-11-0 in the conference, with wins over #3 Boston University and now #6 Maine in their last two games. They’ve won four in a row overall and five of their last six. The Black Bears will try to rebound on Saturday night when they travel to UMass Amherst to play the #11 Minutemen at 7 p.m.
Recap by Chris LessnerÂ
