By Josh Brown
BOSTON – The script looked eerily familiar. After blowing leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 against No. 17 UMass Lowell on Saturday night, it was impossible to not get flashbacks of last weekend against Quinnipiac, where the Huskies blew leads on five separate occasions.
But with 2:50 remaining in overtime, junior Patrick Schule flipped a puck off the back of River Hawks goalie Tyler Wall to give No. 20 Northeastern a 5-4 win at Matthews Arena. The win gives the Huskies their first 2-0 start in Hockey East play since 2012.
Ryan Ruck got his third consecutive start in net, making 23 saves in the winning effort.
Northeastern (4-2-1, 2-0-0) got on the board first late in the opening frame, when Grant Jozefek potted his fifth goal of the season. Streaking into the offensive zone 3-on-1, Jozefek skated to the right faceoff dot and picked the corner over Wall’s far side shoulder.
UMass Lowell (3-5-0, 0-4-0) would answer with two goals of their own just over a minute apart in the second period. Anvi Berisha scored at the 6:43 mark and Connor Sodergen found the back of the net at 8:02 to give the River Hawks their first lead of the weekend.
Adam Gaudette continued his dominance on special teams, scoring a short-handed goal at 13:37 to reclaim the lead for the Huskies. Gaudette jumped on the puck in the neutral zone and beat Wall over his right shoulder.
Early in the third period, Bobby Hampton netted his first collegiate goal to put the Huskies back up by one. The freshman skated around a host of UMass Lowell defenders in the slot and backhanded a shot over the shoulder of Wall.
Although Ryan Lohin would tie the score up at three just over two minutes later, Nolan Stevens answered for Northeastern at 15:41. With Wall outstretched on the ice, the senior captain skated directly through the crease and backhanded the puck into the empty net.
After Ryan Dmowski tied the score with 1:38 remaining in the third, Schule scored the game-winner in overtime to send the Huskies home with the sweep.
Northeastern will have a well-deserved day off on Friday before traveling down the street to No. 6 Boston University for a Saturday evening matchup. WRBB will have complete coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m.