BOSTON- Maine transfer forward Taylor Makar continued his superb start to his senior season, scoring a game winning second period goal on Friday night in leading the #6 Black Bears to a 4-1 over Northeastern in men’s Hockey East action at Matthews Arena. It was the conference opener for both teams, and the Maine victory snapped a 16-game winless streak against the Huskies at Matthews.
The first period was as even as it could get, as neither team scored and the shots on goal were 9-9. Maine snapped the deadlock on the powerplay in the second. Charlie Russell received a pass from Brandon Holt at the left point, and returned it back to Holt in the left circle who let a shot go on Northeastern goaltender Cameron Whitehead. Whitehead made the toe save, but the rebound kicked right back on the stick of Thomas Freel who buried the rebound into the net from the low slot at 12:53 for a 1-0 lead.
Makar got his game winner 1:19 later. Jack Dalton dropped a pass to Russell in the high slot. Russell fired it on Whitehead who again made the initial save, but Makar was in the right spot to slam home the rebound at 14:12 to double the lead. It was the fourth goal of the season for Makar.
Northeastern had several great chances to cut the deficit in half in the third period. Jack Williams cut into the high slot 4:44 into the stanza and rang one off the post to the left of Maine goaltender Albin Boija, and later with just over seven minutes remaining Boija would stop a breakaway attempt by Dylan Hryckowian. The Huskies would pull Whitehead for the extra attacker with 2:28 to go, and Harrison Scott would cash in with an empty net goal at the 18:11 mark. NU spoiled the shutout bid for Boija 21 seconds later on a partial breakaway tally by Cam Lund. The guests put it away on another empty netter this time by Nolan Renwick with 27 seconds left.
Boija made 24 saves in the Maine win. Freel had one goal and one assist, and Russell chipped in two assists. Holt, Dalton, and Frank Djurasevic also had one assist a piece. The Black Bears went 1-3 on the powerplay. Whitehead stopped 30 shots for Northeastern, while Williams and Vinny Borgesi each had an assist on the goal by Lund. The Huskies fall to 1-3, 0-1 in Hockey East and went 0-5 with their extra man opportunities. NU is now 0-11 on the powerplay to start the year. Maine improves to 4-0, 1-0 in the conference and will go for the sweep when the teams wrap up the series on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Black Bears were 0-14-2 in their last 16 trips into Matthews Arena before Friday night, in what likely will be their last trip to the 114-year old building that will be torn down at the conclusion of this season.
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Maine celebrates a 4-1 win over Northeastern in Boston on Friday, October 25 in the Hockey East opener. All photos by Chris Lessner
