Northeastern University capitalized on four of its seven power-play chances on Saturday night, setting the tone for a 7-1 Hockey East victory over the University of Maine at Matthews Arena in Boston.
The Huskies grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first period, then scored twice each in the second and third periods to improve to 15-2-3 in its last 20 games.
UMaine finished with 14 penalties for 50 minutes, seven of which (including two majors), came in the third period.
“We have to have everybody sharp and intense and that’s not what happened today,” said UMaine coach Red Gendron. “We got into trouble taking penalties as the game wore on and they’re pretty good on the power play.”
The Huskies were assessed eight minor penalties in the game.
The Black Bears (8-22-6, 5-15-2 HE) will be back in Boston on Friday to open a best-of-three Hockey East first-round playoff series against the same Northeastern squad, which improved to 16-13-5 (8-8-4).
The Huskies have earned the No. 6 seed, while UMaine finished 11th in the standings. Senior captain Steven Swavely said knowing about the postseason matchup prior to Saturday’s game didn’t affect what transpired on the ice.
“We know we can play with these guys and play better than these guys, so we’re ready. We’re excited,” Swavely. said.
The Black Bears had been carrying play for the most part in the first period when a penalty opened the door for Northeastern. Adam Gaudette scored off assists from John Stevens and Zach Aston-Reese for a power-play goal at the 7:28 mark.
Barely three minutes later, Stevens redirected an Aston-Reese shot past UMaine goaltender Matt Morris (33 saves).
Then, only 3:02 later, Brendan Collier and Matt Benning set up Kevin Roy for a goal that gave the Huskies a 3-0 advantage with 6:25 to play in the first period.
“We didn’t play well on the penalty kill,” Swavely said. “We made a couple of mistakes in the first that gave them a 3-0 lead, then it kind of spiraled out of control and we just started going to the box late in the game.”
UMaine got on the board at 14:59 of the first period when Eric Schurhamer made a long pass from the defensive zone all the way to the offensive blue line. Nolan Vesey got a step on the NU defense and beat Ryan Ruck (23 saves).
Morris also picked up an assist on the goal.
The Huskies didn’t extend the lead until 13:27 of the second period while on the power play. Defenseman Colton Saucerman took a cross-ice pass from Dylan Sikura, held the puck briefly in the left circle, then beat Morris high to the opposite side of the net.
“Bottom line is, you can’t give that team a bunch of power plays,” Gendron said.
Mike McMurtry connected 2½ minutes later to make it 5-1.
Northeastern tacked on two more power-play goals in the third period. Aston-Reese scored at the 14:19 mark, then Tanner Pond picked up his first of the season at 16:56 to close out the scoring.
“We were, needless to say, in the box a lot and it got out of control in the third period and they were capitalizing on the power plays,” Swavely said.
Derick Roy spelled Ruck and made four saves in almost eight minutes of action.