BOSTON — For a Northeastern team reeling off a weekend sweep at the hands of No. 1 Denver, Friday’s Hockey East opener against No. 6 Maine provided a perfect opportunity to wash any lingering bad taste out of their mouths.
Sixty minutes later, however, the bad taste hadn’t subsided; instead, it’d grown into something more substantive, something that’ll continue to flare until the Huskies can put some good results on the board. After a first period in which Northeastern looked the better team, the Black Bears roared into pole position midway through the second, potting two goals in 80 seconds and never glancing back en route to a 4-1 win.
“Goals aren’t coming easy for us right now, I’m not really sure why,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “It’s not like we’re not getting two on ones and three on ones and breakaways, and we had all those tonight. We just didn’t finish.”
Friday’s intrigue started well before gametime, as Keefe posted lines markedly different from the combinations that struggled in last weekend’s consecutive 5-2 defeats at Denver. Most notably, freshman forward Griffin Erdman earned his way onto the top line, while junior forward Cam Lund made his first career NCAA start at center. Additionally, sophomore forward Billy Norcross made his season debut as the 13th forward. Maine’s lines also saw some changes from last weekend’s home sweep against No. 7 Quinnipiac, but not quite to the same degree.
“We didn’t really have a lot of offense in Denver…we’re trying to get some guys going,” Keefe said of the line changes.
When the puck finally dropped, Northeastern came out looking like a team anxious to log an important win. The Huskies flew around, hitting everything in sight and pressing in on the forecheck; as a result, Lund saw two big chances in the opening 90 seconds, each of which were parried away by Maine’s sophomore netminder Albin Boija. Northeastern continued to win the opening ten minutes, repeatedly hemming the Black Bears within their defensive zone with a quick, physical style of play.
Maine battled back, notching their first good chance off of a beautiful toe drag by sophomore forward Charlie Russell, but Huskies sophomore goaltender Cameron Whitehead was more than up to the challenge. The intensity remained high throughout the frame, but solid defensive work and a lack of cohesion amongst both team’s forwards stymied any big chances. It was about as even as it could be – the teams headed to the first intermission knotted at 0-0, each with nine shots on goal and six faceoff wins.
The second period began similarly; Northeastern came out red-hot, putting pressure on the Black Bears instantly. After a slashing minor by Maine’s junior defenseman Brandon Holt, a Huskies powerplay — which has been anything but powerful so far this season — went wanting once more. Less than four minutes later, Northeastern freshman forward Griffin Erdman saw a chance just skip over his stick in front of the net, and, after a tripping penalty on Maine’s sophomore defenseman Frank Djurasevic, another unsuccessful Northeastern power play ended with senior forward Ryan McGuire taking a needless slashing minor.
Just 24 seconds later, the Huskies would get back to even strength, with Black Bear sophomore defenseman Jack Dalton going to the box for a trip on a hard drive to the net by Northeastern’s Joe Connor. Both sides generated some chances at 4-on-4, with the Huskies getting the best look, but nothing came of it, and a tripping penalty on Northeastern’s Nolan Hayes gifted Maine yet another opportunity on the man advantage. This time, despite 90 seconds of quality penalty-killing, the Huskies couldn’t finish the job, as Maine’s Thomas Freel fired home a juicy rebound just above the crease to give the Black Bears a 1-0 lead with 7:07 remaining in the second period.
Whatever intensity Northeastern brought to the first thirty minutes appeared completely zapped by the Maine goal. Less than 90 seconds later, at even strength, lazy backchecking and a poor clearance cost the Huskies, as Black Bear standout Taylor Makar found the back of the net off of another Whitehead rebound opportunity in an almost identical location to Freel’s. Despite looking the better team for the majority of the first thirty minutes, the Huskies now found themselves trailing 2-0 to one of the best teams in the country.
The rest of the second period did little to encourage those adorned in red-and-black on Friday night; Maine continued to pressure a suddenly sloppy Northeastern team, hitting the bar and nearly scoring a third before a net dislodgement provided the Huskies some temporary reprieve. At the end of the second, it remained 2-0, with the Black Bears logging 20 shots to the Huskies’ 15.
Friday’s third period didn’t go without chances for Northeastern; a sloppy start by Maine allowed both sophomore forward Eli Sebastian and senior forward Jack Williams to ring shots off the post and crossbar, respectively. After an uninspiring, uneventful ten minutes, the Huskies found sophomore forward Dylan Hryckowian on a breakaway, but as he’d been all night, Boija stood tall, making a ridiculous, sprawling save. Whitehead went to the bench for the extra attacker with 2:28 to play, but a Joe Connor hooking penalty nullified any potential advantage.
There was some window-dressing still to be done; Maine senior forward Harrison Scott slammed the door with an empty-netter with 1:49 to play, before Northeastern finally broke through with Lund finishing a breakaway chance off a beautiful feed from Williams with 1:11 to play. The Black Bears would wrap up festivities just 43 seconds later, though, tallying their fourth and final goal of the night on yet another empty-netter by senior forward Nolan Renwick.
Friday’s contest was the latest in a string of head-scratching offensive performances from Northeastern; while getting shut down by top-ranked Denver on the road is understandable, failing to generate many good chances at home against Maine is a different story. Friday’s forward pairings looked energetic, for the most part, but generally struggled to convert high-level opportunities for themselves, rarely troubling Boija in net.
“The guys that you want the puck on their stick, in those situations, have the puck on their stick,” Keefe said. “You hope that it’s just a matter of time before those guys are making those plays.”
The lone bright spot offensively was Cam Lund, who recorded a goal for the third game in a row, all against quality opposition. That’s a trend that’ll need to continue; the 2022 NHL second-round pick is widely considered Northeastern’s most talented offensive player, and there’s nothing Keefe would like more than to see Lund develop into a true star.
Defensively, there were some encouraging signs; outside of a ninety-second blip in the second period, the team generally looked composed defensively, even without standouts Jo Lemay and Jake Boltmann, both of whom missed out through injury tonight and can be considered “week-to-week”. Junior defenseman Jackson Dorrington was particularly impressive, rarely putting a foot wrong all night as the only left-handed defenseman in tonight’s lineup.
Northeastern made the wrong kind of history tonight; the Black Bears were winless in their last 16 games at Matthews Arena, dating back to February 25, 2012. “Any road win in this league is really, really difficult… this place has been a bit of a horror show for us, feels good to get one here,” said Maine head coach Ben Barr.
For the Black Bears, Freel’s goal was assisted by Brandon Holt (5) and Charlie Russell (2), Makar’s goal was assisted by Russell (3) and Dalton (1), Scott’s goal was assisted by Freel (1) and Frank Djurasevic (4), and Renwick’s goal was unassisted. For the Huskies, Lund’s goal was assisted by Williams (3) and Vinny Borgesi (4).
The shots on goal ended 34-24 in favor of Maine; Boija finished with 24 saves, and Whitehead with 30. Freel, Russell, and Lund were named the first, second, and third stars of the game, in that order.
These two will square off again in Hockey East action Saturday. Zach Lyons, Emma Sullivan, and Armaan Virj will have the call on WRBB Sports+, with puck drop slated for 7pm.