DURHAM, NH — Northeastern hadn’t won a game since before Matthews Arena shuttered her doors over a month ago.
That five-game losing streak began at the old barn, when a UMass shutout gave way to a gut-wrenching, building-closing loss to BU. A few weeks later, the Huskies fell to Army before a weekend sweep at lowly Vermont took Northeastern’s losing streak to five. In the span of a little over a month, a season that’d begun with such promise felt like it might be on the verge of implosion.
On Friday, though, the Huskies got back to old habits, riding a plucky offense and dominant goaltending from senior Lawton Zacher to a course-righting, 4-0 victory over the University of New Hampshire.
Head coach Jerry Keefe tried to jump-start a flagging offense with a few lineup tweaks, including a new-look third line flush with speed. After some even play to open the game, it’d be that line that got the scoring started. Junior center Matthew Perkins fed a between-the-dots pass to freshman wing Amine Hajibi, who one-timed a beautiful slap pass to sophomore forward Griffin Erdman just outside the crease. Erdman tapped home into a yawning cage to hand the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
The rest of the first period went without major incident, even as Northeastern offered opportunities for the Wildcats to draw level. A defensive zone turnover gave UNH’s Nick Ring a good look, and an Andy Moore cross-checking penalty resulted in a Wildcat powerplay that generated a couple decent looks, but nothing stuck.
Just over a minute into the second period, the Huskies doubled their lead. A transition opportunity allowed junior forward Dylan Hryckowian space on the left hand side, where he feathered a cross-ice pass to freshman center Jacob Mathieu. Mathieu’s low, one-time shot went wide right, taking a funky bounce off the boards. That bounce ended up at the feet of Hryckowian, who simply touched it home before most of the Whittemore Center crowd even realized what’d happened.
Northeastern definitely had the better of the rest of the period, as well. It wasn’t dominant — UNH maintained a foothold, and sophomore center Cam MacDonald almost stole back a goal on a mini-breakaway — but Zacher, as he’d done all night, stood tall.
A five-game losing streak has a way of making a 2-0 third period lead feel shaky. It just does! Northeastern had a 2-0 lead in their 5-2 road loss at Army, and a 2-0 lead in Matthews’ swan song before two last-gasp goals consigned the Huskies to a 4-3 loss.
On Friday, the Huskies never even gave the shakes a chance. From the frame-opening puck drop, the ice tilted in Northeastern’s favor, with a lethargic Wildcats team — who’d looked somewhat uninterested in competing all night, really — offering little in the way of resistance.
Mathieu extended the Huskies’ lead seven minutes in, deflecting a point shot by freshman defenseman Dylan Compton past senior goaltender Kyle Chauvette. Borgesi, searching for the consistency that defined his first few months of play, picked up the secondary assist.
Junior forward Andy Moore capped the night off with a touch under three minutes to play, jamming in from a Hryckowian wraparound pass. That goal emptied even the straggliest of stragglers from a muted Whittemore Center, and the teams played out the string on a comfortable 4-0 final.
The win marked Zacher’s fourth shutout of the season, and his first since back-to-back shutouts against Boston College and Stonehill on October 31 and November 7. He made a number of smart stops, including a first period doozy where he made an impressive save lying on his back.
“[Zacher] gave us exactly what we needed,” said Keefe. “He made some key saves at the right time tonight. He looked really confident out there. He needed a game like that. We needed a game like that.”
More than Zacher, though, Friday’s win was about all 20 skaters who dressed. Everybody — truly everybody, from top to bottom — played some role in the comprehensive team win.
“A solid team win that our group really needed, badly,” Keefe said. “I liked how we played the game tonight, and I thought we played the game the right way and got rewarded for it.”
With the losing streak broken, the setting will shift back to Boston for Sunday’s half of the home-and-home series. But, with Matthews Arena in the anesthetic stages of a three-year facelift, there is no “home” for Northeastern to return to. Instead, the Huskies are set to become nomads, drifting from outpost to outpost while the promise of a new, pearly arena awaits.
Sunday will mark the beginning of that era, with Northeastern’s first “home” game coming on BU’s campus, at Walter Brown Arena.
“Just one game at a time, and on to the next one right now,” said Keefe when asked if the loss of a home arena has led to a shift in the team’s mindset. “We just need to prepare for every game, and embrace the challenge ahead of us.”
Northeastern returns to action on Sunday, when the Huskies resume battle with UNH at Walter Brown. Kabir Singh, Eleanor Johnson, and Armaan Vij will be on the call, with puck drop set for 4 pm.