by Joe Barbito
DURHAM, NH – Senior forward Lincoln Griffin and junior defenseman Jeremy Davies scored two goals each, and senior forward Liam Pecararo tallied three assists on the evening as the Huskies defeated the New Hampshire Wildcats 6-0.
The win gave Northeastern two critical points in the Hockey East standings, putting them in a tie for second with UMass Lowell who tied with Merrimack. Senior forward Brandon Hawkins reached the century mark, hitting 100 career points with an assist on Saturday night. Davies eclipse 30 points in a season for the second year in a row; the last Husky defenseman to do so was Dan McGillis in the mid-90s.
The Huskies went five-for-five on the penalty kill; UNH had a very dangerous power play at the end of the first period that saw multiple forward get point blank shots off on sophomore goaltender Cayden Primeau. Primeau posted his fourth shutout of the season, stopping 23 shots.
Scoring opened up at 11:24 of the second period. Davies scored his first of the night when he slipped a shot past freshman goaltender Ty Taylor. The puck held up on the goal line momentarily, and junior defenseman Anthony Wyse tried to clear it from the crease. He may have ultimately poked it in, but the puck looked destined for the back of the net regardless.
Griffin would be the next Husky to get on the board early in the third when junior defenseman Ryan Shea hit him with a beautiful three-line pass. Griffin darted into the offensive zone, put a few moves on Taylor then back-handed his sixth goal of the season. Davies would get his second on the power play; Hawkins and senior forward Liam Pecararo earned the assists on the goal.
For his next magic trick, Griffin scored an unassisted short-handed goal to truly break the game open at 11:22, and chase Taylor from the game. Junior goaltender Joe Lazzaro was brought in to close out the game.
Sophomore forward Zach Solow and freshman forward Tyler Madden tacked on a pair of garbage time goals that came on a five-minute major power play after freshman defenseman Ryan Verrier committed a game misconduct for an elbow to the head on junior forward John Picking.
The Huskies are tied for second in Hockey East and tied with Arizona State for #8 in the Pairwise. The conquest for home ice and an NCAA bid continues next week when Northeastern plays Boston College in a home-and-home on March 1 and March 2. Puck drop is set for 7pm both games.