AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass Hockey team jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead only to see Northeastern score four second period goals to defeat the Minutemen (3-10-3, 2-5-3 HEA) on Friday night at the Mullins Center, 5-3. The Mass Attack held a 3-1 lead midway through the second frame before the Huskies (4-9-4, 4-6-3 HEA) score three goals in 38 seconds. Massachusetts received goals from three different skaters, while Paul Dainton made 23 stops in goal. UMass will be back in action tomorrow night to play host to No. 4 New Hampshire at 7 PM.
Massachusetts held a 33-28 shot advantage, including an 8-0 run to start the game. The Minutemen went 1-for-3 on the power play while Northeastern went 3-for-6. The Huskies maintained a slight 35-31 lead in the faceoff circle.
The Minutemen bolted out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, scoring two goals 47 seconds apart and outshooting the Huskies 15-6. With UMass on the power play seven minutes into the frame, Chase Langeraap notched his third goal of the season and second in as many games when he positioned himself in between the hashmarks and tipped Joel Hanley's shot from the point past Rawlings.
Conor Sheary netted his second goal of the year less than a minute following the UMass power play tally when he received a pass from Michael Pereira and wristed a shot from the slot that got through a screen and under the left arm of Rawlings for the score. Northeastern nearly cut the lead to one with eight minutes left in the period when Steve Silva caught Dainton out of the net and tried to wrap the puck around the cage, but the shot went just wide.
Northeastern narrowed the Minuteman lead to one just two minutes into the second period when Garrett Vermeersch scored his third goal of the season with the Huskies on the power play. Jamie Oleksiak dished to Mike McLaughlin at the point, who then found Vermeersch at the left faceoff dot for the one-timer past Dainton.
Massachusetts took a 3-1 lead with 12:50 left in the period as Michael Lecomte was credited with his first goal of the season. Lecomte carried the puck around the Northeastern net and threw a shot on goal. The puck was then knocked into the net by a Northeastern defender to give the Minutemen the two-goal edge again.
Midway through the period, the Huskies exploded for three goals in 38 seconds, beginning on Reid Brodie's third score of the year when he buried a one-timer from atop the faceoff circles off a feed from Wade MacLeod. Northeastern knotted the score at three 24 seconds later as MacLeod walked in on Dainton and tucked a shot under the senior goalkeeper's pads for his seventh goal of the season. The Huskies then took their first lead of the game when Steve Quailer scored his second of the year as he crashed the net and jammed the puck past Dainton.
UMass almost tied the score at four in the opening two minutes of the third period when Pereira fired a wrist shot on goal that got through Rawlings' pads, but the puck sat behind him in the crease until a Northeastern defender cleared it out of harm's way. The Minutemen went on the power play with 9:54 left in regulation, and Massachusetts was able to put two shots on goal during the man advantage, but Rawlings was there to steer the puck into the corners and away from traffic. The Huskies iced the game on Rob Dongara's fourth goal of the season with Dainton pulled with 33 seconds left in the frame.