LOWELL, Mass. (Feb. 28, 2009) - Brad Thiessen (Aldergrove, B.C.) made 32 saves and Mike McLaughlin (Seaforth, Ont.) scored the game-winning goal as No. 4 Northeastern defeated No. 20 UMass Lowell, 3-1, Saturday night in Hockey East action at the Tsongas Arena.
The Huskies have won two straight and are unbeaten in their last four games (2-0-2). They improve to 22-8-4 overall and 17-5-3 in league play. The River Hawks have dropped two straight and fall to 15-15-2 overall and 12-11-2 against the league.
Thiessen made 32 saves on 33 shots as UMass Lowell out-shot Northeastern 33-17 for the game. The River Hawks held the shooting edge in all three periods, including a 14-8 advantage in the second.
Thiessen, who earned a 24-save shutout Friday night in the Huskies 3-0 win over the River Hawks, earned his 22nd win of the season Saturday with the 32 saves.
Offensively Northeastern scored a goal in each period and never trailed. For the second straight night, McLaughlin scored the game-winning goal.
David Vallorani (Hamilton, Ont.) scored the only goal of the game for the River Hawks.
Dennis McCauley (Billerica, Mass.) gave the Huskies their first lead of the night at 18:47 of the first period on a deflection in front of the net. It was his sixth goal of the season. Jim Driscoll (Dedham, Mass.) and David Strathman (Tempe, Ariz.) had the assists.
McLaughlin made it a 2-0 game with the game-winner at the 5:35 mark of the second period with assists from Randy Guzior (Lemont, Ill.) and Denis Chrisholm (Fox Valley, Sask.).
Five minutes later Vallorani got the River Hawks on the board, their only goal of the weekend series against the Huskies. The goal was Vallorani's eighth of the season. Nick Monroe (Groton, Mass.) and
Senior captain Joe Vitale (St. Louis, Mo.) iced the game with an empty net tally at 19:45 of the third period. Strathman had an assist for a two-point night.
UMass Lowell was 0-for-5 on the power play with eight shots on goal. Northeastern was 0-for-3 with two shots on the man-advantage.
Carter Hutton took the loss for the River Hawks. He stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced. Hutton is 6-8-1 in 16 games this season.
"We did everything we wanted to tonight," said UMass Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald. "We played well in all three zones. Brad Thiessen won the game for (Northeastern). They get a fortunate bounce on their first goal. The second goal is a bad read by one of our defensemen. Overall we did everything we wanted to do. We just couldn't get it by Thiessen."
The River Hawks return to the ice Friday night for the first of a two-game series with the Black Bears of the University of Maine. The Huskies are next in action Friday night when they host Boston College.