LOWELL, Mass. - Rookie forward Scott Wilson (Oakville, Ont.) scored two goals as the River Hawks skated past Northeastern on Friday night in the Tsongas Center.
The win came in front of a crowd of 4,442 people and 48 dogs as UMass Lowell was hosting "Pucks & Paws Night" in the Tsongas Center, allowing fans to bring their dogs to the rink.
The River Hawks improved to 13-6-0 overall this season and 8-5-0 in Hockey East play, while the Huskies dropped to 8-10-3 on the campaign and 4-10-2 in conference action.
Wilson's goals bookended the evening as he broke through the scoreless tie in the first period, then finished the night off with UMass Lowell's fourth goal late in the second period. Wilson set the crowd off in the game's fifth minute, banging home a backdoor play from Joseph Pendenza (Wilmington, Mass.) for his ninth tally of the season.
The speedy forward then scored on the break-away at 19:43 into the second period after Chad Ruhwedel (San Diego, Calif.) chipped the puck past the Northeastern forecheck from the River Hawks' own red line. Wilson carried in alone and sniped the puck over Chris Rawlings' (North Delta, B.C.) left shoulder.
In between those scores, UMass Lowell also picked up tallies from Derek Arnold (Foxboro, Mass.) and Daniel Furlong (Stoneham, Mass.), both coming in the second period.
Arnold collected a pass from Matt Ferreira (Brampton, Ont.) on the wing and raced to the near corner, jamming the puck past Rawlings at 1:27.
Furlong then took the roof off the building at 10:49 with a short-handed score on a breakaway with Ferreira. As the two-on-one cruised into Huskies' territory, Ferreira dished to Furlong, who fired a shot high over the outstretched goaltender for his second score of the season and first-ever shorthander.
Between the pipes, sophomore Doug Carr (Hanover, Mass.) earned his third career shutout after stopping all 28 Northeastern shots. Carr (12-3-0) also rendered the Huskies' scoreless on five power plays. Rawlings stopped 28-of-32 shots as he dropped to 8-9-3, but kept UMass Lowell's power play unit off the score sheet despite five chances.
With the season series tied at 1-1, the two teams will settle the score tomorrow night in Matthews Arena. UMass Lowell and Northeastern will drop the puck at 7 p.m.