LOWELL — Northeastern entered Saturday night’s contest short-handed and short on margin for error. By the time the final horn sounded, the result reflected just how thin that margin was. Despite an early lead and a strong push late, all that work was undone by a disastrous middle frame that flipped the game on its head, as Northeastern fell 3-2 to No. 20 Maine.
Playing with just five true defensemen, with senior Dylan Finlay unavailable, Northeastern nonetheless opened the night with purpose. The opening minutes were spent largely in survival mode as Maine poured on early pressure, peppering Northeastern goaltender Lawton Zacher with shots from all angles. Zacher held firm, calmly steering aside chance after chance.
That resilience paid off midway through the first period. Northeastern struck first on a beautifully executed sequence in the offensive zone.
Juniors Tyler Fukakusa and Dylan Hryckowian worked a crisp tic-tac-toe passing play that found Joe Connor in space, and the sophomore didn’t hesitate, unloading a one-time blast past Maine goaltender Mathis Rousseau to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Moments later, another setback hit the Huskies’ defensive end. Senior captain Vinny Borgesi was assessed a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct, leaving Northeastern without another defenseman on a night where depth was already stretched thin.
Suddenly, the task was simple but daunting: survive five uninterrupted minutes shorthanded.
But against the odds, they did it. Northeastern’s penalty kill was aggressive and disciplined, clogging shooting lanes and clearing rebounds while Zacher stayed sharp. When the horn sounded to end the period, the lead remained intact, and the bench had something it hadn’t always had this season: belief.
That momentum vanished almost immediately to start the second period.
Just 91 seconds in, Maine evened the score at one when junior Frank Djurasevic blasted a shot through traffic from the point that beat Zacher cleanly.
Less than three minutes later, Djurasevic struck again. With a delayed penalty looming and an extra attacker on the ice, the junior stepped into another one-timer from the top of the circle, snapping it home to give Maine its first lead of the night, 2-1.
The goals came fast, and they rattled Northeastern.
With just over five minutes remaining in the period, a rebound bounced loose in front of Zacher’s cage, and as Northeastern scrambled to clear, freshman Matthew Maltais was the last to touch the puck, inadvertently nudging it back toward his own crease. The puck slid across the goal line to make it 3-1, with junior Sully Scholle credited as the last Maine skater to touch the puck.
In less than 13 minutes, Northeastern went from controlling the narrative to chasing the game.
“You’re in a five-defenseman situation, so you can’t really push too much,” said Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe. “We were trying to play intelligent hockey. It’s frustrating to give one up that quick to start the second.”
The numbers underscored the shift. Maine outshot Northeastern 25-11 through the first two periods and controlled long stretches at five-on-five, while the Huskies struggled to regain any offensive momentum.
Down two entering the third, Northeastern had a choice: fade quietly or make one last push. To their credit, they chose the latter.
Shots came in waves, with the Huskies firing 24 attempts in the final period and finally forcing Rousseau into extended work. The breakthrough arrived midway through the frame when freshman Giacomo Martino picked his spot, snapping a shot over Rousseau’s right shoulder to pull Northeastern within one.
That goal gave Northeastern life, and the final minutes were frantic. Pucks were thrown from everywhere. Bodies crashed the crease. Chances came, but the equalizer never did. Rousseau held on through traffic, rebounds bounced just wide, and the Black Bears blocked just enough lanes to escape.
When the clock expired, the frustration was visible.
“We battled the entire night,” Keefe said. “But to get results, we’ve got to figure it out. The playoffs are right around the corner.”
With one regular-season game left, Northeastern’s margin for error continues to shrink. The weekend showed flashes of what this group can be. However, it also showed how quickly things can slip away.
Northeastern didn’t necessarily fold. But in a game decided by a brutal second period, battling wasn’t enough.
Northeastern returns to action next Saturday for the final game of the regular season against Boston College. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., with written coverage post-game on WRBB Sports.
Armaan Vij is a third-year student at Northeastern University and a broadcaster and writer for WRBB Sports. He has covered Northeastern hockey, baseball, and rowing both on-air and in print for the past two years. Read all his articles here.