The Northeastern University Huskies took a two-goal lead at the end of the second period and then held off the University of Maine Black Bears for a 5-3 men’s hockey victory Friday night at Matthews Arena in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Huskies improved to 15-13-5 overall and 9-8-4 in Hockey East, and the Black Bears slipped to 8-21-6 and 5-14-2, respectively. The two teams meet again at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Black Bears outshot the Huskies 37-26, but Northeastern’s Ryan Ruck came up with 34 saves, and UMaine’s Rob McGovern had 21.
UMaine cut Northeastern’s lead to 4-3 4 minutes, 36 seconds into the third period when Cedric Lacroix scored his fourth goal of the season off assists from Daniel Perez and Nolan Vesey.
The Black Bears kept up the pressure in the third period, outshooting the Huskies 15-6, but they couldn’t convert again. UMaine also couldn’t respond on its one power-play opportunity in the period.
UMaine pulled McGovern with 1:23 left in the game, and Northeastern’s Adam Gaudette secured the win with an empty-net goal with 39 seconds remaining.
Andrew Tegeler and Will Merchant also scored goals for UMaine, and Eric Williams paced the Huskies with two goals. Zach Aston-Reese and Patrick Schule each added a goal for Northeastern.
After the teams battled to a 2-2 tie at the end of the first period, the Huskies took a 4-2 lead after two periods.
Williams and Schule scored about a minute apart to give the Huskies the two-goal cushion. Williams scored with assists from Nolan Stevens and John Stevens at the 12:56 mark, and Schule came back at 13:54 to convert off assists from Dylan Sikura and Gaudette.
The Black Bears actually outshot the Huskies in the period 11-7, while each team was zero for one on the power play.
The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Black Bears equalized on goals by Tegeler at 14:38 and then by Merchant with just 32 seconds left in the period. Blaine Byron and Cam Brown picked up assists on Tegeler’s third goal of the season, and Brendan Robbins and Mark Hamilton notched assists on Merchant’s 13 goal of the season.
Northeastern outshot UMaine 13-11 in the first period, and each team was zero for one on the power play.