By Josh Brown
BOSTON- With points at a premium with only a handful of league games remaining, Northeastern received production from a cast of familiar faces en route to a 6-2 win over UMass Amherst on Friday night.
Leading the way for the Huskies (12-12-5, 6-9-3) was Nolan Stevens and Zach Aston-Reese, who both netted two goals in the winning effort. Aston-Reese also picked up his 50th point of the season, the first Husky to reach the milestone since the 1989-1990 season.
It did not take long for Northeastern to get on the board, with Nolan Stevens finishing off a tick-tack-toe bing-bang-boom sequence just 16 seconds in to give NU the early lead. The Huskies would continue to pile on in the first, getting goals from Dylan Sikura, Adam Gaudette and Stevens again to take a 4-0 lead and subsequently knock UMass goalie Ryan Wischow (8 saves) out of the game.
Despite Jake McLaughlin beating Huskies goalie Ryan Ruck (25 saves) with just 1:20 left to go in the first and Griff Jeszka scoring one less than three minutes into the second, that would be the closest the Minutemen (5-22-2, 3-13-1) would get.
Looking to pad his Hobey Baker resume, Aston-Reese would score two special teams goals – one shorthanded and one on the power play – to seal the deal and send the Huskies home with a 6-2 win.
Northeastern will be back in action Monday afternoon when they take on No. 7 Boston College in the Beanpot consolation game. Pregame coverage begins at 4:15 p.m.