Saturday night’s game at Whittemore Center wasn’t by any means perfect for coach Jim Madigan’s Northeastern Huskies, but a win is a win entering the Hockey East playoffs.
Four different Huskies found the back of the net, including Nolan Stevens and defenseman Jeremy Davies in less than a one-minute span in the first period, while freshman Cayden Primeau made 34 saves in a 4-0 win.
“After the first five or six minutes of the first period, I thought we got into a decent rhythm, took the lead, and got better with our details,” Madigan said after his team closed the season with a fifth consecutive victory and clinched the league’s No. 2 seed. “In the second and third period, I thought we played smart and tried to climb above the puck and be good through the neutral zone.”
Northeastern finishes its regular season with a 21-8-5 record and 15-6-3 in Hockey East play. UNH, which will be seeded 11th in Hockey East, is 10-18-6 and 5-14-5 in league games.
Primeau’s heaviest workload came in the third period as the Wildcats held a 16-6 shot advantage. Despite four power-play opportunities, UNH was not able to find the back of the net for the second straight game after suffering an 8-0 setback in Friday’s series opener in Boston.
For UNH coach Dick Umile, everything was there in the contest — except for a goal.
“We obviously didn’t win the game, but I thought we played one of our better games,” said Umile, who was coaching in his final game at ‘The Whit’ as he is set to retire at the end of this season after 28 years. “We’ve had difficulty scoring all year, and tonight might have been one of the most difficult ones where we didn’t score. We had a lot of good chances, even around the net.”
The top offensive unit in Hockey East was held in check for the first half of the opening period, but visiting Northeastern struck for two goals in less than a one-minute span midway through to take a two-goal lead that would never be relinquished.
One of UNH’s best chances of the game came before the Huskies tallied a goal. Just past the eight-minute mark of the first, Primeau lunged out to the top of his crease to take away a prime scoring opportunity from senior Jason Salvaggio, who moved toward the net from the left wing.
Stevens then got the scoring started at the 13:36 mark, following up the point-blank chance that junior Adam Gaudette created after picking up a loose puck out of the left corner. Gaudette drove toward the front and had his initial shot stopped, but Stevens banged in the puck after it squirted through UNH senior Danny Tirone’s legs and into the blue paint for his 21st goal this season.
Davies doubled the Northeastern lead just 54 seconds later as he stuck a wrist shot between Tirone’s blocker and the left post after driving down the left wing.
While all three members of the talented trio of Gaudette, Sikura, and Stevens recorded points in the game, seven of the Huskies’ goals over the two-game series — including Davies’ fifth marker of the season — involved other lines. That’s key entering postseason play.
“We’ve talked about having secondary scoring, and we got it the last two nights,” said Madigan. “More importantly, we got some offensive zone possession time from all four lines, opportunities, and we built momentum. That was good to see. You’re not going to score all the time. It’s a hard league to score in, but to see them get chances and the detail they had in their game was good.”
Just 46 seconds into the middle period, Gaudette cracked the goal column for the 29th time, beating Tirone on a second chance after senior defender Garrett Cecere threaded the puck toward the net from the outside of the right circle.
From there, Tirone was pulled in favor of freshman Mike Robinson, who stopped all nine shots he faced over the final 38:27. With the Bedford, New Hampshire, native and San Jose prospect between the pipes, the Wildcats made their hardest push in the offensive end during the back half of the game, but Primeau would not be beaten.
“From my end, he’s the best goaltender in our league, and the numbers (a league-high 1.85 goals-against average in the regular season) certainly prove it, but he gave us some quality goaltending when we needed it,” Madigan said. “We got a little bit loose in our own zone. UNH had a good push in the third period, and he came up big.”
Brandon Hawkins had a goal taken away 4:39 into the second due to an offside call on a breakaway out of the penalty box, but he tallied an empty-netter with 36 seconds to play.
Salvaggio finished the game with eight shots on goal for the Wildcats. Tirone suffered a loss for the 15th time this season after making 12 stops, including 10 in the opening 20 minutes.
While the Huskies await their playoff opponent, the Wildcats know theirs: Maine. UNH will head north to its arch-rivals for an opening-round playoff series beginning next Friday.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” UNH captain Dylan Chanter said. “I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but when you hear that we’re playing Maine, you’re almost ready to go again. You’ve got the adrenaline rushing right away.”
