Despite outplaying the host #9 Northeastern Huskies for many parts of Friday nights game one of a best of three Hockey East quarterfinal playoff game, the Maine men’s ice hockey team came up short 2-1 in overtime at Matthews Arena in Boston.
The Black Bears outshot the Huskies 42-32, won the faceoff circle 44-35, and had better Grade A opportunities in the game, but Northeastern sophomore goalie Cayden Primeau had 41 saves to lead the third seeded Huskies to the win. After a scoreless first period, Tyler Madden opened the scoring at 8:29 of the second to make it 1-0. Maine tied it up though when Brady Keeper scored unassisted at 16:20, just 22 seconds after a Northeastern powerplay ended.
Both teams had good opportunities in the third period to take the lead, and Maine had a couple of real good chances to end it in overtime but couldn’t push one past Primeau. The game winner came at 4:15 of the overtime, when Maine defenseman Rob Michel turned the puck over just outside his own blue line. Austin Goldstein picked up the loose puck and beat Black Bear goalie Jeremy Swayman on a breakaway for his first goal of the year to end it. The play was reviewed for a possible offsides, but after a lengthy review the call stood.
Swayman made 30 saves in the loss. Maine held Northeastern to 0-5 on the powerplay, while the Bears went 0-1. Maine will try to avoid a two game sweep and an end to their 2018-19 season on Saturday night in game two of the series. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
