Northeastern Rolls Past Bentley, 7-3
Senior forward Zach Aston-Reese has two goals and two assists for Huskies

Senior forward Zach Aston-Reese had two goals and two assists for the Huskies
Prd Time  Team Score Type Scored By Assists
1st 0:47  NOE1-0 EV Zach Aston-Reese (2) -
1st 6:52  NOE2-0 PP John Stevens (1)Dylan Sikura/5, Zach Aston-Reese/2
1st 12:19  NOE3-0 EV Lincoln Griffin (2)Adam Gaudette/1
1st 16:56  BEN1-3 PP Alexey Solovyev (3)Tanner Jago/2, Max French/5
2nd 0:38  NOE4-1 PP GW Adam Gaudette (2)Zach Aston-Reese/3, Dylan Sikura/6
2nd 5:11  NOE5-1 EV Ryan Shea (1)Dylan Sikura/7, Adam Gaudette/2
2nd 6:58  NOE6-1 PP Zach Aston-Reese (3)Dylan Sikura/8
2nd 10:03  BEN2-6 EV Jake Kauppila (1)Ryner Gorowsky/1, Brett Orr/2
2nd 18:09  BEN3-6 SH Tyler Deresky (1)Andrew McDonald/1, Connor Brassard/1
3rd 9:13  NOE7-3 EV Matt Filipe (1)Adam Gaudette/3, Biagio Lerario/1
Scoring 1st 2nd 3rd Final
Bentley  1203
Northeastern  3317
Shots on Goal 1st 2nd 3rd SOG
Bentley  75618
Northeastern  1416838
Team Stats and Records  PP PIM SHGF
Bentley (1-1-1)  1/4 10/20 1
Northeastern (1-1-2)  3/8 6/12 0
Bentley Goaltending MIN GA 1 2 3 Saves
Jayson Argue (L, 1-1-1)30:036 117018
Aidan Pelino29:431 06713
Empty Net0:140     
Northeastern Goaltending MIN GA 1 2 3 Saves
Ryan Ruck (W, 1-1-2)59:543 63615
Empty Net0:060     

BOSTON - The No. 16/14 Northeastern men's ice hockey team (1-1-2) received four points apiece from Zach Aston-Reese (two goals, two assists), Adam Gaudette (one goal, three assists) and Dylan Sikura (four assists) en route to a 7-3 victory against Bentley (1-1-1) on a celebratory night at Matthews Arena on Saturday night.

Prior to the game, Northeastern unveiled the 2016 Hockey East championship banner in the Matthews Arena rafters commemorating the Huskies' first league championship since 1988.

NU jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game with goals from Aston-Reese, John Stevens and Lincoln Griffin before the Falcons cut the deficit to 3-1 later in the first with a goal from Alexey Solovyev. Northeastern's dominance continued into the second with another three tallies off the sticks of Gaudette, Ryan Shea and another from Aston-Reese before Bentley pulled Jayson Argue (18 saves) and replaced him with Aidan Pelino (13 stops).

Two late goals from Jake Kauppila and Tyler Deresky made it a 6-3 game through 40 minutes, but Matt Filipe logged his first collegiate goal midway through the third period to put the game out of reach. Ryan Ruck got the start in goal for the fourth straight game, making 15 stops.

Northeastern's power play unit broke out of its slump with a 3-of-8 showing on the man advantage, striking three times in the first 27 minutes of the contest. NU's penalty killing unit continued its strong play, limiting the Falcons to a 1-of-4 night on the man advantage.

The Huskies controlled the pace of play through much of the game, outshooting Bentley 38-18, including a 30-12 advantage through the first two periods. NU also won 42-of-31 draws, including an 11-of-18 showing from captain John Stevens.

Goal descriptions

- Northeastern bolted out to a 1-0 lead with a goal just 47 seconds into the contest. With the Huskies fighting for possession of the puck in the attacking zone, Aston-Reese got control in the right corner. He then tried to center the puck across to John Stevens, but it caught the skate of a Bentley defenseman and snuck through Argue for Aston-Reese's second goal of the year.

- John Stevens buried his first goal of the 2016-17 campaign five minutes after the Aston-Reese tally with Northeastern on the power play. As NU worked the puck around the zone, Aston-Reese saucered a pass across to Sikura on the left side. Sikura then found Stevens creeping in from the point for a one-time blast that beat Argue glove side.

- The hosts went up by three with 7:41 to go in the first period on Lincoln Griffin's second of the season as the Huskies capitalized on a turnover in the attacking zone. Gaudette was hard on the forecheck for NU with Bentley trying to clear, and picked off a pass before find Griffin on the weak side for the score.

- Bentley cut into the deficit with a power play goal from Solovyev with 3:04 to go in the first. With the Falcons on a four-on-three skating advantage, Max French dished the puck Solovyev at the point. After Solovyev found Tanner Jago, Jago quickly returned the puck to Solovyev atop the right face-off dot for a one-timer over Ruck's shoulder.

- Northeastern continued to find the net as the second period began, and Gaudette got into the action with his second of the year less than a minute into the frame. When Bentley gave Sikura room to maneuver, he flew through the neutral zone before finding Aston-Reese at the left side entering the zone. Aston-Reese carried the puck along the wall and hit Gaudette with a feed as he joined the rush, who beat Argue to the left.

- Shea became the first Husky rookie to net his first collegiate goal with 14:49 to play in the second period when he received a feed from Sikura in the slot and roofed a wrist shot into the top left corner to make it 5-1 Northeastern.

- The offensive firepower continued from the Huskies on the power play when Aston-Reese buried his second of the evening, receiving a pass from Sikura and ripping a low shot from the right face-off dot that got through Argue five-hole.

- The Falcons started to chip away near the midway mark of the second period, and made it 6-2 on Jake Kauppila's first of the season. After Brett Orr blocked a shot in the defensive zone that sent Bentley in transition, Kauppila took a pass from Ryner Gorowsky and sent a wrister over Ruck's glove.

- Bentley made it a three-goal goal with 1:51 to go in the second when Andrew McDonald found Tyler Deresky at the left face-off dot, and he buried a shot past Ruck with the Falcons shorthanded.

- Filipe got his first as a Husky with 10:47 remaining in regulation when he crashed the net in search of a rebound off an Adam Gaudette shot from the right side, and found it off the pad of Pelino, sneaking it under his pad to extend the lead to 7-3.

Stats of the game

- Northeastern is now 3-4-1 all-time against Bentley, and collects its first win against Bentley since Oct. 16, 2009.

- The Huskies improve to 48-32-5 all-time in home openers, including a 10-3-3 mark since the 2000-01 season.

- Northeastern is now 10-0-1 in its last 11 home games, dating back to last season.

- Sikura had a career-high four assists on Saturday, becoming the first Husky since Kevin Roy (Feb. 22, 2014) to record four assists in a game. Sikura also has at least one assist in his first four games, a new career-long, and also tied his career-long point streak on Saturday.

- Aston-Reese (two goals, two assists) and Gaudette (one goal, three assists) both had a career-high four points (two goals, two assists) on Saturday.

The road ahead

- Northeastern's five-game home stand continues next weekend as the Huskies host Arizona State for a pair of games at Matthews Arena, beginning Friday night at 7 p.m.