BURLINGTON, Vt. - Chris McCarthy netted a pair of goals and Brody Hoffman made 33 saves as Vermont held off visiting Northeastern 3-2 on Sunday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Hockey East action. The Catamounts improve to 2-4-2 (2-4-2 HEA), while the Huskies fall to 4-6-1 (2-6-1 HEA) with their six straight league loss. The Catamounts scored first halfway through the first period after Kevin Roy was called for tripping. On the ensuing power play, McCarthy blocked a clearing attempt from Drew Ellement at the top of the crease and spun a low shot past Bryan Mountain. McCarthy's goal was unassisted at the 9:16 mark of the period. Vermont doubled its lead late in the second period on a 4-on-4 situation. Jacob Fallon won a faceoff to McCarthy in the left circle, and the junior's initial wrist shot was blocked. McCarthy picked up the puck again and drifted toward the slot to snap a shot glove side on Mountain to double the UVM lead. The Catamounts killed off three Northeastern power plays in the middle frame and nearly took a 3-0 lead with roughly 30 seconds left in the period. The puck was redirected off the skate of a Husky defenseman and popped out to Kyle Reynolds at the top of the crease, but his diving effort didn't find the target. Northeastern finally got on the board with under five minutes remaining in regulation. Braden Pimm fed Roy in stride and he skated in alone on Hoffman from the left circle. Roy deked to his backhand and Hoffman made an acrobatic left pad save at the right post, but the rebound sat for the rookie and he poked it into the net. The Huskies nearly tied the game a minute later, but after the missed chance Brett Bruneteau stole the puck at his defensive blue line and skated with speed on a breakaway. The senior deked to his forehand and snapped a quick shot over Mountain's blocker to restore the two-goal lead. Bruneteau's tally was unassisted at 16:46. Northeastern pulled Mountain for an extra skater with three minutes left in the final frame. After both Jim Madigan and Kevin Sneddon called back-to-back timeouts with 53 seconds remaining on the clock, the Huskies pulled a goal back as Roy snuck a shot past Hoffman's glove through a screen for his second of the night. The Catamounts controlled the ensuing faceoff and held off NU to secure the victory. Hoffman made 16 saves in the third period alone and picked up his second collegiate win, while Mountain stopped 22 shots at the other end. Vermont was 5-5 on the penalty kill and blocked 15 shots in the win.
Vermont travels to Amherst, Mass. on Tuesday (Nov. 20) for its annual pre-Thanksgiving matchup with Massachusetts at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center. The game will be televised on CBS3 in Massachusetts, and all the action can be heard live on WVMT 620-AM and online at SportsJuice.com with Alastair Ingram on the call. NOTES: McCarthy leads the Catamounts with seven points after a three-goal weekend ... He now has six points in his last five games ... Sunday marked the 50th all-time meeting in the series ... Vermont now leads the series 25-20-5 ... UVM snapped a four-game losing streak to Northeastern with the win ... NU goalie Bryan Mountain is the older brother of sophomore forward Kyle Mountain ... UMass Amherst lost 8-2 to UMass Lowell at home on Sunday night ... The Catamounts are in a stretch of five games in nine days ... After the UMass game on Tuesday, Vermont hosts No. 3 Minnesota in Burlington on Friday, Nov. 23 and Saturday, Nov. 24 ... Both games will be televised by Fox Sports North and NESN.