BOSTON, Mass. - In its most goals scored since 2001, the No. 7/7 Northeastern women's ice hockey team (7-1-1, 3-1-0) used five first period goals to catapult the Huskies to a 9-1 victory against Connecticut (2-8-1, 1-3-0) on Saturday at Matthews Arena.
Casey Pickett (four goals, two assists) and Kendall Coyne (one goal, five assists) led the way for NU with six points apiece, while linemate Rachel Llanes added a goal and two assists. Chloe Desjardins made 18 saves in goal before being relieved by Kelsey O'Sullivan (one save) in the final six minutes.
Northeastern set the tone from the opening puck drop, outshooting UConn 27-8 in the first period, and 52-20 in the game. The Huskies went 1-of-3 on the power play while holding Connecticut to an 0-of-4 showing on the man advantage.
Llanes began the scoring barrage for the Huskies 4:17 into the contest when she tipped home a shot from Pickett on the left side. Connecticut would knot the game at one, however, six minutes later as Margaret Zimmer banged home a loose puck from in front of Desjardins off a deflected shot from Michela Cava.
It was all Northeastern from there as NU potted four more first period tallies, including Coyne's team-leading 12th goal of the season with 5:09 left in the frame on a shot from in front of the cage with the Huskies on the power play.
Colleen Murphy scored her first goal of the season 61 seconds later as she jumped into the play and took a crossing feed from Pickett on the left side for a quick one-timer past UConn goaltender Elaine Chuli (22 saves).
Northeastern would net two goals in the final two minutes of the first as Pickett finished off a tic-tac-toe play with Coyne, ending with a low shot through Chuli before freshman Tori Hickel scored her second of the season off a loose puck in front.
The Huskies showed no signs of slowing down in the second period, receiving two more goals from Pickett in the frame. The Wilmington, Mass. native picked up her second of the day 1:23 into the stanza on a shot from the slot off a feed from Coyne and Llanes. Pickett would then collect her second career hat trick with 2:17 to play in the frame when she took a long pass from Leanne Gallant, skated in on Sarah Moses, who replaced Chuli at the start of the period, and deeked to the right for the score.
Pickett collected her fourth of the afternoon less than two minutes into the third period, with Coyne again picking up the assist before Kelly Wallace closed the scoring with 5:57 left in regulation on her second of the season.
The Huskies will be back in action next weekend for a two-game set against Vermont at Matthews Arena, beginning Saturday at 2 p.m.
Game Notes:
- The last time Northeastern scored nine goals in a game was on Feb. 6, 2001 against Boston University (9-0) when the Terriers were a club team; the last time NU had nine goals in a NCAA contest was on Dec. 30, 1999 against Wisconsin (15-0).
- Northeastern's 52 shots on goal marked the first time since Nov. 20, 1999 that the Huskies had at least 50 shots on goal in a game.
- Pickett is the first player since Brooke Whitney to score four goals in a game (Jan. 27, 2002 vs. Wayne St.).
- Pickett doubled her season scoring totals in today's win. She posted four goals and two assists for six points, after she had 3-3-6 totals through the Huskies' first eight games.
- Coyne extended her scoring streak to five games this afternoon. During the streak, she has seven goals and seven assists for 14 points.
- With 5:57 left in the game, O'Sullivan made her Northeastern debut. The junior from Medway, Mass. stopped the only shot she faced in the game.
- Brennolt and Murphy were on the ice for all eight combined even-strength goals in today's contest, and both finished with a team-high plus/minus rating of plus-6.
- With the sweep this weekend, Northeastern evened their all-time record against Connecticut, which now stands at 17-17-9.
- The last time NU had 14 goals in two games was during the 2000-01 season, when they defeated BC 7-2 on Jan. 31 and then beat BU 9-0 on Feb. 6.
- Senior defenseman Casie Fields played in her 100th career game on Saturday