ORONO, Maine — It wasn’t a game Northeastern was supposed to win, so the 3-1 loss came as no surprise. But Northeastern gave it their best shot, at least through the first half of the contest.
Heading up to the Alfond Arena Friday night, the Huskies went headfirst into a hostile environment of dedicated Black Bears fans, but they came out of the gates swinging, with a dirty-area opportunity on the first shift of the night.
From there, play went back and forth, and despite Maine’s aggressive forecheck, the Huskies put up strong defensive work. Northeastern has struggled with protecting the area in front of the net all season. In fact, the previous game against Merrimack was so difficult that the Huskies had switched lines as they entered the third period, and sure enough, they looked to bring a fresh start to Maine, especially down the center.
Jack Williams and Ryan McGuire maintained their typical centering positions, but surprisingly, Joe Connor was moved from wing to center on the second line and Eli Sebastian slotted back into the lineup for his first game in three weeks.
On the back end, it seemed to work to their advantage. They did a much better job of intercepting centering passes, getting in shooting lanes to block shots, clearing pucks from the slot, and overall keeping Maine to the perimeter.
However, offensively, the Huskies were as cold as the Orono winds, especially the power play. Northeastern’s power play was 0/5 Friday night, including three opportunities in the third period, and only notched three shots on goal.
To add insult to injury, the Black Bears scored shorthanded. Less than a minute after the second period began, Harrison Scott headed to the box on a tripping call. A bad turnover in the Huskies’ end left the puck on the stick of sophomore forward Josh Nadeau, who centered it for a deflection from junior forward Owen Fowler.
Deflections were all that Maine could get past Northeastern sophomore netminder Cameron Whitehead, but that’s all they needed. Although the Huskies evened the score with Eli Sebastian’s first collegiate goal — a beautiful snap in transition beating Black Bears goaltender Albin Boija over his left shoulder — Maine ended the second period with a leg up.
In the final minute of the frame, Taylor Makar got the tip in front off of Frank Djursavic’s shot from the point.
“Last minute of the period, it’s a 1-1 hockey game,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. ”You expect guys to go out there and do a job and go into the third period 1-1 on the road and you feel good about it and you have them give up a goal in the last minute of the second period.”
The Huskies had been building some offensive momentum, staying in step with the No. 6 team in the country, but the late-period goal slowed them right back down. Heading into the third period, there was no urgency to the Huskies’ game, especially with the three nearly-consecutive power plays. Meanwhile, Maine switched to a defensive game, and although this worked for Northeastern in terms of possession, they didn’t do anything notable with the opportunity.
Boija wasn’t perfect, but the Huskies just didn’t test him enough. The goaltender let through the surprising goal from Sebastian and allowed some dangerous rebounds, but none Northeastern could jump on in time. The Huskies only notched 21 shots on goal through the game compared to Maine’s 31.
It wasn’t what Northeastern wanted just a few days away from an opening-round Beanpot contest against No. 1 Boston College, but it’s what one could have expected.
Northeastern will head to TD Garden for another top-10 challenge Monday night for the Boston-favorite Beanpot tournament. The Huskies come into the tournament defending a two-year reigning title. Matty Wasserman, Daisy Roberts, and Amelia Ballingall will have the call live on 104.9 FM for the second semifinal, currently scheduled for 8 p.m.