By: Dan McLoone
BOSTON – A sold-out crowd showed up to the No. 13 Northeastern men’s’ ice hockey game on Homecoming weekend, and the Huskies did not disappoint. The Huskies completed a series sweep of No. 15 Boston University with a 6-1 blowout win at a raucous Matthews Arena on Friday night, extending an unbeaten start to the season in Hockey East play.
Nolan Stevens opened the scoring for the Huskies (6-2-1, 4-0-0 Hockey East) three minutes into the game, firing a puck over the shoulder of BU goalie Jake Oettinger. Adam Gaudette doubled the lead 3:17 later, wristing home a shot from the slot.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the second period, the Terriers (4-6-1, 2-3-1 HE) wasted little time cutting into the lead. Patrick Harper made it 2-1 just 42 seconds into the period, skating coast-to-coast with the puck and firing home a shot from the blue line.
It was all Northeastern from there, as Gaudette reclaimed a two-goal cushion for the Huskies at the 16:30 mark, poking home a shot from Zach Solow (3 assists) on the power play that bounced off the boards behind the net and into the crease.
Lincoln Griffin made it 4-1 6:39 into the third period, deflecting home a power play shot from the blue line off the stick of Solow. Griffin added his second goal of the night seven minutes later, beating Oettinger to a 50-50 puck in the offensive zone and sending it into an empty net to make it 5-1.
That second goal spelled the end of the night for Oettinger, who was pulled in favor of Max Prawdzik after making 16 saves on 21 shots. On the other side of the ice, freshman Cayden Primeau was solid in net for the Huskies, making 33 saves on 34 shots.
The Huskies weren’t done there, as they continued to pile on following a 10-minute misconduct call on Patrick Curry with just 14 seconds left in the game. In the ensuing man advantage, Trevor Owens threw a shot on net from the blue line that Bobby Hampton redirected home for NU’s third power play goal of the game and a 6-1 lead.
The win was the first home victory over BU since 2012 for the Huskies, snapping a five-game stretch. It also marks the first series win against the Terriers since the 2000-01 season, and gives NU two straight victories over BU for the first time since 2012-13.
Northeastern will now focus on a quick turnaround, as the team travels North to Lowell to take on the UMass Lowell Riverhawks on Saturday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.with full coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m. on WRBB.
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