Box score

Jim Madigan's post-game press conference (YouTube.com)

Northeastern suffered a 4-1 setback on Friday night to No. 13 Merrimack at a sold out Lawler Arena. Rookie Ludwig Karlsson netted his first-career goal in a contest in which the Huskies were outshot, 47-28.

Junior Chris Rawlings kept the Huskies in the contest throughout his time in net with 36 saves in 46:09 minutes of play. Sophomore Clay Witt did not surrender a goal and turned away seven shots in his 11:42 minutes of relief. MC netminder Joe Cannata stopped 27-of-28 shots. Juniors Justin Daniels and Drew Ellement were credited with the assists on Karlsson's tally.

Merrimack possessed the early tempo and peppered Rawlings from all over the zone in the first 10 minutes of the initial stanza. Junior Steve Quailer took a hitting from behind call at 9:18 and the Warriors parlayed it into a 1-0 lead on a power play goal from Mike Collins.

After a couple cycles, Karl Stollery filtered the puck down the Ryan Flanigan on the far side behind the net. Collins eluded a pair of defenders, gathered Flanigan's pass and zipped a crisp wrist shot past Rawlings in between the circles at 10:25.

Northeastern was given an extra man after a Kyle Bigos roughing infraction at 11:00 of the first period, but the Huskies couldn't convert within the window.

Towards the end of the first frame, each team traded penalties and Northeastern took a bunch of chances on Cannata on the power play, but the Warriors did a good job of clogging the lane and NU could not get the rubber towards the net. Carter Madsen took the last call (roughing) of the period at 19:51 to give Northeastern the extra man to start the second period.

Quailer won the draw to start the second and wheeled in on Cannata's glove side, but could not gain the proper angle to put it away. Merrimack killed of Madsen's penalty and reclaimed momentum shortly after. Rawlings made a clutch stop on Bigos at 5:40 with the glove to keep MC's adrenaline at bay.

The Huskies best chance of the second period came at 8:15 when junior Vinny Saponari connected with centerman J. Daniels in front of Cannata. J. Daniels did not get enough power behind the wrister and Cannata was able to maintain position for the stop.

The first infractions of the second period did not come until Stollery and sophomore Zak Stone took a seat for hooking and embellishment, respectively, at 17:52. MC's Tom McCarty offered the first chance between the circles, but Rawlings made the pad save to turn the puck up the other way. Saponari had a clear lane to the far post before Merrimack's penalty kill came out of nowhere and checked him to the ice to keep the score at 1-0 after the first 40 minutes.

Right out of the chute to start the third, Jordan Heywood doubled up Merrimack's lead 48 seconds into the third period. Brandon Brodhag ripped the initial blast from the left circle and Justin Mansfield tried to shove the rebound past Rawlings on the goalmouth. Rawlings poke checked the puck out to the top of the zone from his stomach and Heywood took advantage of the open net for the 2-0 lead.

Elliott Sheen's tripping call at 2:49 gave Northeastern an opportunity to cut the deficit, but the Huskies' power play was smothered by Merrimack's penalty kill once again. As Sheen exited the box, Collins nearly countered in transition but rang his shot off the left pipe.

With momentum in Merrmimack's favor, Bigos ripped the puck from the Huskies on the forecheck and buried a slap shot inches within the blue line for the unassisted tally and a 3-0 advantage for the Warriors. Upon the Warriors' third goal, head coach Jim Madigan called timeout and tried Witt in net.

On Northeastern's next possession, Karlsson put away a loose puck right in front of the net to breathe life into the remaining moments. The newcomer spotted the puck after a touch by J. Daniels and made it a 3-1 affair at 7:40. Ellement was credited with the second assists on the play.

Sophomore# Luke Eibler# took a five-minute major game misconduct for an elbow to the head at 10:57 to give Merrimack the man-advantage for an extended window. Witt stayed in position and continually thwarted the Warriors to keep Northeastern in the thick of things.

Witt was pulled at 18:45 and Quailer nearly buried a one-timer on the near post, but Merrimack kept the Huskies out of the net and Flanigan capped the night off with an empty-netter at 19:53 for the 4-1 victory.

Northeastern returns home to a SOLD OUT Matthews Arena to take on its local foe from Comm Ave., No. 1 Boston College, tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Saturday's game marks the second-consecutive time the Northeastern-BC match-up has sold out at Matthews Arena, and the third time in the last four meetings between the schools. The last time Northeastern played Boston College at Matthews Arena, the Huskies came away with a 2-1 triumph over the top-ranked Eagles. The Huskies and the Eagles skated against each other five times last season.

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Game Notes
• Ludwig Karlsson tallied his first-collegiate goal on Friday night at Merrimack and has scored a point in each game he's skated in. The Linkoping, Sweden native assisted in his first-career game in a 4-0 win over New Hampshire on Oct. 14. Karlsson is the first rookie to light the lamp this season.

• Northeastern surrendered a season-high 47 shots to the Warriors.