LOWELL — After splitting the series against No. 6 Providence last weekend without the help of their top point producer, Dylan Hryckowian, Northeastern had to go into their series against UMass Lowell without another important contributor, as freshman forward Jacob Mathieu was also out of the lineup this weekend. This left Northeastern, who had only scored eight total goals in their first five games of February, with the challenge of winning without their top two point producers. Their response to this adversity was to put up eight goals on Saturday, as they secured the weekend sweep with a statement 8-2 win over UMass Lowell.
“It was nice to finish and make some plays tonight, that’s for sure,” said Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe. “[It will] hopefully get a couple guys going and get some confidence that way. We were opportunistic, and sometimes you have to be.”
The first two goals came early for Northeastern, with both of them generated on a rush. Junior forward Eli Sebastian opened the scoring with a quick shot off a centering pass from freshman forward Amine Hajibi. Sophomore Joe Connor followed that up 50 seconds later with a backhand shot that sailed over the left shoulder of River Hawks goalie Samuel Richard.
After allowing his second goal in just three shots faced, Richard was taken out of the game and replaced by freshman goalie Austin Elliot. Richard had allowed only five goals on 81 shots in his previous three starts, including a 24-save performance against Northeastern the previous night. On the other hand, Elliot was last in net for Lowell’s 5-2 loss against UMass February 7th, but was replaced by Richard before the third period started
After gaining an early 2-0 lead, Northeastern started to lose steam, as they spent a large portion of the frame in their defensive zone and struggled to win faceoffs when they needed it most. Despite this, Northeastern found the back of the net once again in the later minutes of the frame, as freshman Noah Jones sent in a centering pass intended for Amine Hajibi, which tipped off the stick of UMass Lowell defenseman Sean Kilcullen and found the back of the net. This was the first goal of Noah Jones’s NCAA career, making it the second night in a row that a Huskies defenseman has scored his first, with Sophomore Jack Henry also having notched one the previous night.
Northeastern opened the scoring in the second period as well, with freshman defenseman Dylan Compton firing a shot from the high slot into the top corner of the net, giving the Huskies a 4-0 lead.
This high didn’t last long, however, as a tripping minor on Dylan Finlay put UMass Lowell on the power play for the first time this weekend. The River Hawks didn’t waste the opportunity either, as defenseman TJ Schweighardt’s shot from the blue line put them on the board, just one minute after Compton’s goal.
After Northeastern dominated the scoreboard early, UMass Lowell upped their response in the second period winning the faceoff battle 14-6, and putting 12 shots on goal compared to only four from Northeastern. With that fire lit under them, they had a lot of close chances to find the back of the net, including a shot from forward Diego Buttazzoni that rang off the crossbar. However, due to strong goaltending and shot blocking efforts, Northeastern was able to hold on to their 4-1 lead as the second period came to an end.
Oftentimes when Northeastern has had the lead going into the period, they have shifted their focus towards protecting that lead with a defense-first game. This was not the case in the third period of this contest.
Heading into the third frame, the Huskies began to match the energy and physicality of Lowell that gave them the upper hand in the late stages of the second. With that, things really started to fall apart for Lowell after Austen May extended the lead to 5-1 on the power play.
It was at this point that UMass Lowell started to look defeated, as they were no longer winning races to pucks or spending extended time in the offensive zone. Northeastern capitalized on this with a top corner snipe by freshman forward Giacomo Martino, putting them up 6-1.
Chaos started to ensue with eight minutes left in the period when Hajibi and UMass Lowell forward Libor Nemec got matching roughing penalties and game misconducts for a tussle after the whistle. Two minutes later, Noah Jones and UMass Lowell forward Dalyn Wakely also got matching game misconducts after getting tied up in the Northeastern defensive zone and throwing jabs at each other.
The scrum between Jones and Wakely led to a power play for Northeastern due to Wakely engaging the tussle, and although they didn’t score on the power play, it only took them five seconds back on even strength to find the back of the net with a top left corner wrist shot from freshman forward Jack Pechar, putting the Huskies up 7-1. Before the puck was dropped following the goal, tensions flared and James Fisher was also handed a 10-minute misconduct, ending his night.
The penalties didn’t end there, though, as Northeastern’s Dylan Finlay and Lowell’s Jay Ahearn both earned two minutes for roughing, while Lowell’s Connor Eddy was given a 10-minute game misconduct and a game ejection. With that, Northeastern went back on the power play, and put in freshman goalie Matt DellaRusso to get his first taste of NCAA hockey action for the last 3 minutes of the game.
As Northeastern’s power play was nearing its end, junior forward Matthew Perkins put another one on the board for the Huskies, extending their lead to 8-1. The scoring was not done yet however, as with four seconds left in the game, UMass Lowell forward Lee Parks got one past DellaRusso to make the final tally 8-2.
The eight goals scored by Northeastern is the most that they have scored since their game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on November 26, 2023 when they won 9-2. All of their goals came from different players, with contributions from all over the lineup.
“We had to roll four lines, especially playing back to back nights,” Keefe said. Those guys gotta play a certain way, and I thought they did. They played hard, they were physical, and that’s how we need them to play.”
Northeastern will be back in action next Friday against Maine at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm, with Daisy Roberts, Jacob Phillips and Armaan Vij bringing you the call on WRBB Sports 104.9 FM.
Kabir Singh is a second-year student at Northeastern University. He is a hockey writer and broadcaster for WRBB Sports. Read all his articles here