Huskies continue winning roll
Beanpot champion Northeastern kept its momentum rolling, turning back a late challenge from Vermont to secure a 2-1 win and sweep the two-game series at Matthews Arena last night.
“It was a hard-fought weekend. Vermont is a very good team and they work hard. Both games were really one-goal games and both goalies played sensational,’’ said NU coach Jim Madigan, whose club took the opener, 4-1. on Friday. “It was a huge four points. It puts us in better position in the league for home ice.”
The loss and the twogame slide did not sit well with Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon.
“We did not play well the first half of the game,” he said. “Credit NU, they played well. But we didn’t give ourselves a chance. It was very disappointing.”
Northeastern (19-9-1, 117-1), which sits in fourth place in Hockey East, broke on top after only 56 seconds had elapsed, sending its first shot into the UVM net. Left winger Lincoln Griffin’s fifth goal of the season also represented career point No. 50.
The quick goal offered a good omen as the Huskies improved to 13-2-1 when scoring first while UVM fell 6-11-1 when allowing the first goal.
There was a milestone later in the opening frame when NU captain Eric Williams hopped over the boards for his 146th consecutive game appearance, the most in program history.
Vermont (12-16-2, 5-13-2) got into penalty difficulty in the middle period with firstline forwards Joey Cipollone and Max Kaufman making their way to the box to hand NU a 5-on-3 advantage lasting 1:35. UVM was still a mandown when Matt Filipe scored his sixth goal and second on the power play this season to give NU a 2-0 lead.
At 12:42 in the second, Tyler Madden took a long stretch pass and broke in on Vermont goalie Stefanos Lekkas. Backchecking defenseman Jake Massie disrupted Madden enough to allow Lekkas to fend off the attack.
A carryover penalty to NU defenseman Julian Kislin for hitting from behind proved costly early in the third as the Catamounts got on the board with the man-advantage. Cipollone maintained netfront position to rap home a loose puck for his eighth goal. That cut the margin to 2-1 just 42 seconds into the frame.