Hawkins’ winner lifts Northeastern
Northeastern and UConn played a tightly contested Hockey East game last night at Matthews Arena, where senior winger Brandon Hawkins’ first career gamewinning goal at 18:46 of the third period was the difference in the hosts’ 3-2 win.
“This league, it’s hard to get points. Those are premium points,’’ Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said. “We’ve talked all year about how in this league there are going to be one-goal games, and we grinded it out. I liked the way we respnded. I liked our mindset. For us, it was a great team win, and I could could go right through 1-to21 (players).”
Freshman center Tylar Madden helped to set up the winner when he collected the puck along the right boards and passed toward the slot, where Hawkins steered the offering past Uconn goalie Adam Huska (36 saves). It was Hawkins’ second goal of the season.
“Certainly, a disappointing loss for our team,’’ Uconn coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “I really like our club and liked how we played. When you have a young team the hardest thing is to learn how to close out games.”
A tell-tale difference in the two teams was the visitors lineup, whuch had nine skaters at 6-foot-2 or taller while Northeatern (5-3-1, 2-1-1) had nine skaters who were 5-foot-10 or shorter. That disparity was evident in the opening period as UConn (4-4-1, 2-3-1) bumped the hosts off the puck.
“They’re big in the back line. We wanted to use our speed and quickness to get separation,’’ Madigan said. “Some of our smaller guys are some of our more gritty guys.”
Uconn grabbed a 1-0 lead at 16:20 when freshman defenseman Roman Kinal, whose father played on NU’s 1985 Beanpot championship team, fired a long slapper that sophomore goalie Cayden Primeau (22 saves) never saw. It was Kinal’s first collegiate goal.
NU was not without opportunities as junior winger Matt Filipe of Lynnfield had to be muttering to himself after coming close on a pair of glittering firstperiod chances.
Play became a bit helterskelter in the middle period as a succession of minor infractions invaded the process. NU did have one golden opportunity while on a power play at 2:35, but senior winger Lincoln Griffin of Walpole was robbed on a back-door attempt by Huska.
The night’s biggest drama came at 7:55 of the second when Griffin picked off a pass at the NU blue line and split the UConn defense. Griffin was hooked from behind, drawing a penalty shot. The Griffin bid clanged off the iron, leaving NU’s one-goal deficit unchanged. It was the first time an NU player took a penalty shot since Nov. 8, 2014 when Ryan Rosenthal missed against UMass-Lowell.
NU finally cracked Huska during a man-up situation at 9:07 when crafty Uconn Russian import Ruslan Ishakov, a sceond-round draft choice of the Islanders, landed in the box for handling the puck. Sophomore Zach Solow worked the puck to All-America defenseman Jeremy Davies, and his point blast along the ice found the mark to knot the score.
NU staved off a 4-on-3 advantage when Uconn connected. Ishakov used his considerable skills to draw attention and fed a pass to senior center Max Kalter, who roofed a wrist shot to Primeau’s stickside at 17:19.
NU held a 5-on-3 for 43 seconds and capitalized when Solow beat Huska at 11:17 to tie matters.