The Northeastern men’s hockey team came out with a hard fought 4-1 win vs Vermont at Matthews Arena on Friday night. The win comes after the team won their second Beanpot in as many years on Monday night
The Huskies entered the night tied for fifth in the Hockey East standings with just four points separating teams three thru eight. The top 4 teams capture a home quarterfinal in the Hockey East playoffs.
Vermont entered the day in ninth, 5 points behind Maine for the last Hockey east playoff spot.
“It was not a pretty win, we talked about how it was going to be a hard game. Their a good team and are fighting for playoff opportunities. We are fighting for playoffs and hopefully home ice, so is was not going to be pretty. We stuck to it in the third period and found a way to win and get the two points. At this stage of the season points are really critical and those were two quality points that we needed to get,” said Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan.
Early on in the game, sophomore goaltender Cayden Primeau came up big for the Huskies stopping 16 Vermont shots in the first period.
“Without Cayden Primeau in the net we do not get out of the first period 0-0. We are probably down 2, 3-0. He gave us a chance to win and gave us a chance to find our legs which we did not have in the first period,” said Madigan
It was Vermont who got on the board first after Northeastern turned it over and sophomore forwardAlex Esposito took a feed from junior Matt Alvaro on a 2 on 1 opportunity early in the first.
The Huskies would fight their way back in it on a shot from the point from Ryan Shea that had traffic in front of the net from junior forward John Picking.
After two periods Northeastern was being outshot 25-12.
Just over four minutes into the third junior goaltender Matt Filipe pounced on his own rebound after a nice zone entry from junior defenseman Jeremy Davies, and a feed from junior forward Grant Jozefek.
Picking, who was a key part in Northeastern’s first goal of the night, capitalized on a 2-1 opportunity late in the third to build the Huskies lead. Picking decided to shoot rather than pass and got the puck behind Vermont goaltender junior goaltender Stefanos Lekkas.
Lekkas led Hockey East with a .931 save percentage entering the night.
“He [Picking] is a young man who has not played in 10-15 days. He has not practiced since the 31st of December,” said Madigan.
Senior forward Lincoln Griffin would add an empty net goal.
The Huskies and the Catamounts are back in action at Matthews arena tomorrow night at 7pm. WRBB will have full coverage beginning at 6:45pm.