BOSTON, Mass. - Northeastern outshot No. 1 North Dakota, 31-24, but Fighting Sioux goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux was perfect and shut out the Huskies, 3-0 on Saturday night at Matthews Arena. Northeastern generated many scoring chances and had seven power plays but couldn't find the back of the net. Northeastern goaltender Brad Thiessen made 21 saves in net.
After two games, Northeastern is 1-1-0 including Friday night's 3-2 overtime win over Providence College. North Dakota improved to 2-0-1 with the win.
Northeastern came out swinging in the first period, outshooting North Dakota, 13-7, but it was the Sioux who went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead. With Northeastern's Greg Costa in the penalty box for hooking, Brad Miller got the Sioux on the board with his first goal of the season. North Dakota cycled the puck on the power play and Miller shot one by Thiessen on his stick side from the left side of the crease. Ryan Martens and Joe Finley got assists on the play.
The second period went scoreless with Thiessen making eight saves to Lamoureux's six. Freshman defenseman Drew Muench had a short-handed breakaway opportunity when Lamoureux tried to pass the puck into the neutral zone. Muench intercepted it and rushed to the net but Lamoureux saved Muench's shot.
Northeastern had several good scoring chances again in the beginning of the third period but couldn't put one in to even the score. Chris Donovan had a breakaway attempt reminiscent of his overtime goal on Friday night but Lamoureux came up with the save. Right after that, North Dakota's Kyle Radke took a penalty for cross checking at 3:14 but the Huskies couldn't capitalize on the power play.
North Dakota put the game out of reach with two goals, both on odd-man rushes, within a minute in the third period. Rylan Kaip scored the first one to make it 2-0 at 10:20 in the third period. Matt Watkins and Miller got assists on the play. The Fighting Sioux made it 3-0 on another odd-man rush at 11:09. This time Evan Trupp took the puck to the net before dropping a pass behind him to Andrew Kozek. Kozek put a top-shelf shot past Thiessen for the final goal of the game.
Northeastern returns to Hockey East action on Friday and Saturday when it hosts Maine for two games at Matthews Arena. It is Homecoming weekend at Northeastern next weekend.