ORONO, Maine — The Hockey East preseason favorite might have seemed like an easy choice as it faced the team picked to finish last on Friday night at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena.
It certainly didn’t play out that way.
UMaine, chosen to duplicate last year’s last-place finish, received late third-period goals from Killian Kiecker-Olson and Donavan Houle to tie defending league champion Northeastern and the Black Bears went on to earn an extra point by winning the shootout after no one scored in the five-minute three-on-three overtime.
The game will go into the books as a 2-2 tie but UMaine will receive the extra point in the league standings.
UMaine is now 2-3-1 while Northeastern is 3-2-2. The teams will play again Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Riley Hughes broke a scoreless deadlock for Northeastern 1:59 into the third period and Jakov Novak expanded the lead just 1:39 later.
But freshman Kiecker-Olson scored a power play goal with 7:05 remaining and Houle tied it with a shorthanded tally with just 2:34 remaining.
Kiecker-Olson was set up nicely by Jakub Sirota, who made a diagonal pass to him in the right faceoff circle. Kiecker-Olson took a stride and fired a wrist shot past the screened Devon Levi into the upper short side corner.
“It was a great screen by Tommie [Freel]. He took the goalie’s eyes away,” said Kiecker-Olson, whose goal was the first of his career. “It always feels great to score.”
Pivotal play: Houle tied it when he took a Didrik Henbrant pass, carried the puck into the Northeastern zone, cut to the middle and took a wrist shot from the high slot that deflected off a Northeastern stick and sailed past Levi’s glove.
“We were down one, there wasn’t much time left in the game, so I just tried to put the puck on net,” Houle said. “Anything can happen.”
In the shootout, Kiecker-Olson and Ben Poisson sandwiched goals around a Henbrant miss while Northeastern missed its two chances as Victor Ostman made a save on Jeremie Bucheler and Aidan McDonough missed the net.
Hughes opened the scoring off a UMaine turnover as he was set up alone in front by Matt DeMelis and lifted a backhander past Ostman’s blocker after skating across the low slot.
Novak scored when he swatted in a puck from the top of the crease after Justin Hryckowian had knocked it off Kiecker-Olson’s stick to him from behind the net.
Ostman finished with 26 saves and Levi had 24.
“We have a lot of belief. We never gave up,” Houle said. “We didn’t put our heads down. We kept going and got the job done.”
The Black Bears got off to a sluggish start as the Huskies kept them pinned in their own end for large segments in the first period while outshooting UMaine 14-6.
“We got better as the game went along,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “The first period wasn’t very good. We were timid. But we came back. We stuck with it.”
Big takeaway: UMaine continues to show resiliency and the ability to hang with teams with more skill thanks to its tireless work ethic. Northeastern has 12 NHL draft picks. UMaine doesn’t have any.
Up next: The teams face each other again at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Alfond Arena.