NORTH ANDOVER — Dylan Hryckowian had been on the ice for all of five seconds when his eyes “lit up.”
As Hryckowian skated to join his linemates midway through an offensive zone cycle, defender Jackson Dorrington sent in a hard shot from the right point. And sure enough, the long rebound careened perfectly onto Hryckowian’s waiting stick.
After 84 minutes of grueling postseason hockey, Hryckowian didn’t miss his chance to end it.
Behind Hryckowian’s overtime winner, Jack Williams’ game-tying goal in the third period, and 44 saves from Cameron Whitehead, ninth-seeded Northeastern gutted out a 3-2 double-overtime victory over eighth-seeded Merrimack in the opening round of the Hockey East tournament at Lawler Rink.
The win advances the Huskies (13-19-3) to a matchup against No. 1 Boston College (26-6-2) in the Hockey East quarterfinals on Saturday night at Conte Forum.
“The longer the game goes, the more opportunities these guys get,” Keefe said. “And you’re just like, ‘it’s a matter of time. It’s a matter of time.’… So I’m not surprised that [Hryckowian] gets the winner, or one of his two linemates gets the winner. You need your best players to make plays in that type of game, and that’s what they did.”
Prior to Wednesday, Northeastern had not entered the third period trailing and then come back to win the game all season (they were 0-16-1 in such circumstances).
But trailing 2-1 in the third period, Northeastern’s middle six forwards did just enough to create spurts of pressure and Whitehead delivered big saves when called upon, setting up the top line to deliver the equalizer.
Finally, with 12 minutes remaining in regulation, Lund won a board battle behind the net and dished the puck to Hryckowian, whose initial shot was saved but created a wide-open rebound for Williams to bury.
The star trio of Lund, Hryckowian, and Williams are each at 16 goals and 35+ points on the season. And after the staff tinkered with different combinations throughout the season to bolster the Huskies’ well-roundedness, those three have now played 10 straight games together on the top line.
Ultimately, the formula of playing the team’s three best forwards together and then surviving the outstanding minutes has proven to be the Huskies’ best option to generate enough scoring to win games.
“Playing a lot helps us a lot. It allows us to get in the rhythm of the game so much quicker, and we can kind of stack shifts. And once we’re on a roll, you can see we started rolling,” Hryckowian said. “We’ve played together for a really long time now… I think it’s just the chemistry [we have]. And it’s a desperate time of year, and it’s really time for us to elevate our game.”
As has been the case all season, Northeastern plays its top players at a higher clip than any other team in the league — and that rotation shrunk even smaller on Wednesday, particularly in the third period and overtime.
Merrimack outplayed the Huskies in the first overtime frame, winning the shot battle 15-8 and getting a couple grade-A chances off Northeastern turnovers. The Warriors’ edge was particularly pronounced in the closing minutes of the overtime period, and Whitehead kept the Huskies afloat as the top defensemen and forwards fought serious fatigue.
“We played kind of a short bench, so I thought at times we had to hang on a little bit. Whitehead did a hell of a job for us in there and made some huge saves for us” Keefe said. “I feel like we had better legs in the second overtime.”
All told, Merrimack got a consistent effort from three forward lines and a terrific performance from goalie Max Lundgren. But someone had to go home.
“I don’t think we could’ve asked more of our team,” said Merrimack coach Scott Borek. “I think it’s by far the best game we’ve played all year. And we just couldn’t get it done at the end.”
Though Merrimack’s lineup lacks the upper-echelon forward talent of Northeastern — the Warriors do not have a single double-digit goal scorer or forward with over 20 points — the two teams have matched up evenly all season. The four contests between them resulted in a 2-2 split, with the last three each coming by a one-goal margin of victory.
“They had a heck of a team this year. We played them four times, and we end up splitting with them, and they were all battles,” Keefe said. “But that’s playoff hockey. That’s what it’s about right there.”
Northeastern will now move on to face No. 1 BC in the quarterfinals, after memorably falling 8-2 in the Beanpot Semifinal last month. The Huskies did beat the Eagles at Matthews Arena back in November, but they will face an uphill climb against a juggernaut in their home barn.
“We’re going to embrace the challenge. We’re really excited,” Hryckowian said. “Obviously, it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go in the Beanpot. And we kind of have it personal with them a little bit. We really want to get them back for what they did to us.”
For now, Northeastern will focus on resting up — since those top players will need to exert just as much to hang with the Eagles, who use the league’s most balanced rotation.
“We’ll meet tomorrow. Probably just watch a little bit of video. Guys that want to go on the ice will go on the ice, and obviously the guys that played a ton are not going to go on the ice to get rested up,” Keefe said. “And then we got a really good day of Friday practice.”
“This time of year, you want to play hockey.”
Stay tuned for details of WRBB’s coverage of Northeastern’s matchup against No. 1 Boston College in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.