ORONO, Maine — Dylan Sikura netted two goals and John Stevens added three assists to help Northeastern earn a 6-4 victory against Maine Friday night at Alfond Area.
Maine saw its three-game win streak come to an end as Northeastern earned its first win at the Alfond in over four years.
The Huskies didn’t waste any time making themselves at home after Maine’s captain Devin Shore was called for the first of his three penalties of the night.
With Shore in the box, Colton Saucerman went to work on the power play, scoring just 1:50 into the game. The defenseman’s seventh of the season came after he knocked in the rebound from a Matt Benning shot.
Northeastern doubled its lead less than a minute later as Brendan Collier collected a Trevor Owens pass and sent the puck past Maine goaltender Matt Morris.
The Huskies dominated Maine start to finish, receiving goals from Sikura and Zach Aston-Reese before the end of the first. Stevens carried the puck down the ice before sending it to an open Sikura out in front. His wrister went flying past Morris and had NU up 3-0.
“We gave up too many odd-man rushes,” said Maine defenseman Ben Hutton. “They’re a skilled offensive team and if you give them chances, they’ll bury them.”
Black Bears’ coach Red Gendron wasn’t pleased with the way his team played, calling it a “brutal performance.”
Gendron called a timeout and exchanged Morris for freshmen goaltender Sean Romeo during the first period. Romeo went on to make a series of key saves throughout the game.
The Black Bears deflated a potential Clay Witt shutout when Connor Leen scored 7:36 into the second period. Northeastern answered back just seconds later when Nolan Stevens fed a pass to an unmanned Mike Szmatula, who had no trouble beating Romeo.
In the third, Hutton gave Maine fans something to cheer about when he ripped the puck past Witt, cutting the lead 5-2. Fans’ cheers were quickly silenced as just 36 seconds later, Sikura added his second of the night to extend the lead 6-2. Both Stevens were credited with assisting on the play.
Maine added two more goals from Cedric Lacroix and Brian Morgan, but could not complete the rally. The Black Bears are now winless in their last four games at home.
Northeastern coach Jim Madigan showed mix feelings about his team’s performance.
“I’m happy to get the two points, but I wasn’t happy with our third period,” Madigan said. “We let things go. We didn’t play to our identity.”
Northeastern improves to 15-11-4, while the Black Bears drop to 12-18-3.
The two teams will close the series Saturday night when Maine celebrates its senior class.
