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Over the last decade, Northeastern — like many college hockey teams — has had a hard time taking positive results out of Boston College.
The Huskies had not won at Conte Forum since 2008, but the nation’s fourth-ranked power play set the tone in a 5-2 victory Saturday night, lighting the lamp three times in the first period and four times overall. The win marked NU’s 10th in 16 games and eighth in 11 Hockey East contests, its fastest to those marks since 2008-09.
“We were attacking early in that first period, and our mindset was good,” Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said. “We’ve had good starts over the last few games here, so we built some momentum off the power play and it carried over to the five-on-five.”
Northeastern had scored three power-play goals in a game just once this season, but topped that mark in just over 15 minutes on this night as Jeremy Davies, Dylan Sikura, and Adam Gaudette all lit the lamp as part of what was the nation’s fourth-best power play entering the night.
Davies tallied the opening goal at 7:27, beating BC sophomore Joseph Woll on the same shift as fellow defender Garret Cockerill clanked a shot off the post. The Huskies’ next two goals came in a span of 1:03 as Sikura banged home a rebound from the right crease at 14:16 before Gaudette took Cockerill’s feed in the slot and shot home his team-leading 11th of the season.
“I thought we were moving our feet well there,” Sikura said. “I think when you start the game on the power play, sometimes it’s good for the team, like, obviously, tonight. It can hurt if you don’t get a goal or get frustrated. I thought we did a good job tonight being ready. That’s been a big thing in practice, just being ready right from the start.”
The Huskies scored twice in the first 7:33 of the second period to take a commanding 5-0 lead, after which BC coach Jerry York replaced Woll with Ryan Edquist, but momentum swung to the Eagles before the final intermission.
Trevor Owens and Sikura scored the last two Huskies goals, but the hosts held a 19-9 shot advantage and got on the scoreboard with Michael Kim’s wrister from the top of the left circle at 14:23. Christopher Brown’s rebound goal against Northeastern freshman Cayden Primeau made it a three-goal game with 3:04 left in the second period.
“It was just a difficult start for us,” York said. “Putting Northeastern on the power play that many times really put us behind the 8-ball. Even when it got to be 5-0, I felt a good comeback coming, and we got it to 5-2.
“Joe (Woll) was fighting the puck a little bit, I thought, at the beginning of the game. We brought Eddie (Ryan Edquist) in, and he did a really good job.”
BC was just unable to recover, and the Huskies posted a strong finish with the first five shots on goal in a scoreless third period and nine of the 15 total. Primeau made 26 saves in the contest, helping Northeastern to its third straight win, and getting the Huskies within two points of the Eagles for first place in the Hockey East standings.
The win snapped an 0-8-2 skid for the Huskies at Conte Forum.
“We’ve had some good games here, some tough losses, and a few ties,” Madigan said. “That’s a pretty good team in that (BC) locker room. It’s been a pretty good team for the last many years.”
Hockey East roundup
Boston University 9, UMass Lowell 3
Jordan Greenway notched his first collegiate hat trick and added an assist twice to lead the Terriers to a convincing victory at Agganis Arena — their third game with at least seven goals in the last six, dating back to Nov. 18 at Maine. Patrick Harper scored two goals, while defenseman Chad Krys finished with one goal and two assists.
BU held a 47-18 shot advantage, allowing a single goal in each period. On a similar note, Greenway collected his hat trick with a goal in all three frames. Connor Wilson, John Edwardh, and Jake Kamrass all had two-point night for the River Hawks, who received 27 saves from starter Tyler Wall and 11 in Christoffer Hernberg’s 27:07 of relief.
Maine 5, at Quinnipiac 3
The Black Bears finished an impressive nonconference sweep in stunning fashion, breaking a 3-3 tie with goals from Patrick Shea and Cedric Lacroix in the last 24 seconds of regulation at TD Bank Sports Center. Lacroix was one of three Maine skaters who posted a two-point game, while freshman Jeremy Swayman made 45 saves en route to his seventh win of the season.
Quinnipiac held a 48-26 shot advantage, including 20-5 in the first period. Maine scored three straight goals in the second period before Tanner MacMaster brought the Bobcats level with just over five minutes to play in regulation.
Brown 2, at Vermont 2 (OT)
Conor O’Neill scored 10:24 into the third period to lift the Catamounts to a draw in the final game before the holiday break at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Alex Esposito also scored for UVM in support of Tyler Harmon, who made 25 saves in his first collegiate start. Luke Kania made 34 for the Bears, but the home team responded to each one-goal deficit it faced with a goal against him in each of the final two periods.
Army West Point 4, at New Hampshire 3
Freshman Eric MacAdams scored two of UNH’s three goals, but his efforts weren’t enough as the Black Knights won the second of their weekend games against Hockey East foes at Whittemore Center. The Wildcats faced three separate two-goal deficits in the game and held a 40-21 shot advantage, but could not find a tying goal after Anthony Wyse scored 9:38 into the third period.
Jared Dempsey made double-digit saves in each period and 37 total for Army, improving to 2-1-1 this season. Zach Evancho and Dominic Franco each tallied a goal and an assist.
RIT 4, at Providence 0
At Schneider Arena, Christian Short pitched a 28-save shutout against a Friars offense that scored eight times in Friday’s series opener. Myles Powell scored RIT’s final two goals, while Chris McKay and Alden Dupuis also found the back of the net against the Providence tandem of Hayden Hawkey and Gabe Mollot-Hill. Hawkey stopped 12 of the 16 shots he faced in the first 47:24 of game time. The Friars held a 28-18 shot advantage, but finished the game 0-for-8 on the power play.
