Box Score

Stephanie Gavronsky got Northeastern off to a roaring start and Kendall Coyne netted twice for the third straight game, but three unanswered goals from New Hampshire handed the Huskies their first tie of the season, in a 3-3 decision today at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H.

The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead, but three unanswered goals buoyed the Wildcats until Coyne's third-period power play strike sent the game to overtime.

The home side had three of the first four shots before junior tri-captain Casey Pickett's interference minor gave the Wildcats their first power play at 3:10. T nation's second-ranked penalty kill was up to the task, however, with senior Florence Schelling turning aside an effort from UNH leading scorer Nicole Gifford as the two minutes expired.

Northeastern would nose in front two minutes after the power play. Sophomore Claire Santostefano won the faceoff from Gifford to classmate Katie MacSorley, who found senior tri-captain Gavronsky for her fifth goal of the season. The tally tied a new single-season high for the Sherwood Park, Alberta native, who entered 2011-12 with eight career goals to her name.

The Northeastern power play had its chance at 9:19 when Kristine Horn went off for hooking. The Huskies went without a shot for the first minute before UNH's Jenn Gilligan denied junior Brittany Esposito to end the threat.

Where the power play was stifled, however, the Huskies dominated play at even strength and would double their advantage soon after Horn's reentry. At 14:26 Esposito played in Coyne, who buried her team-leading 11th goal of the season to put UNH in a 2-0 hole.

The Wildcats, who entering today had been outscored in Hockey East play, 24-6, would not go quietly, and soon set scoring the three unanswered goals that would give them the lead. Just 2:01 after Coyne found the net, UNH's Brynja Bogan beat Schelling to have the Northeastern lead with five minutes to go in the opening period. It was Schelling's first goal against in nearly 75 minutes; she recorded her national-best fifth shutout of the season Wednesday against No. 7 Boston University.

New Hampshire took a power play into the second period after Santostefano took a hooking minor just before intermission. Once again the penalty kill stood firm, with Schelling going untested in the minute after play had resumed.

Another hooking minor at 5:31, this one to Esposito, seemed to keep the momentum with UNH, but Maggie Hunt's interference minor just ten seconds later swiftly put the Wildcats back on their heels.

They weren't on the back foot for long, however. At 11:05 Emma Clark found Bryanna Farris, whose second goal of the season put the teams back on level terms at 2-2.

The Huskies controlled most of the run of play in the second period, with a 10-5 shots advantage, but could not cash in on their opportunities thanks to saves from Lindsey Minton, who had replaced Gilligan after the first intermission. NU was able to parlay its control into a third-period power play, however: with seconds to play in the middle frame, after efforts from junior Kelly Wallace, sophomore Maggie Brennolt and Gavronsky had all gone begging, Katie Brock's obstruction-hooking penalty as time expired put Northeastern on the power play heading into intermission. The extra-skater chance went by the boards, however, and despite launching the first eight shots of the period, the Huskies could not pull ahead.

New Hampshire would make NU pay soon after, when Coyne's slashing minor at 4:37 tested the penalty kill unit once again. This time, the results were not as sweet: Kristina Lavoie's seventh goal of the season, on UNH's first shot of the power play, beat Schelling unassisted with less than 15 minutes to play and gave UNH a 3-2 lead.

Trailing for the first time in the game, the Huskies responded immediately through Coyne. Just 68 seconds later, the freshman phenom equalized with help from Gavronsky and Pickett. The goal was Coyne's 12th in her debut season and her sixth in the last three games. She has score a point in all but one of her 14 games this season.

Both teams squandered power play chances as time expired. First the Huskies' penalty kill had to redouble its focus after MacSorley's tripping minor at 9:21, but Schelling denied Hunt and Arielle O'Neill in succession to keep the game tied. Lavoie's high-sticking minor a minute into the power play put the teams at four aside, but Minton was wise to efforts from Coyne, Pickett and junior Rachel Llanes to neutralize the Huskies' end of the power play.

Northeastern went on the advantage once again with two minutes to play when a bad change left too many Wildcats on the ice, but the Husky power play, which went 1-6 on the day, could muster little against the New Hampshire goal as the Huskies entered overtime for the second time this season. Previously they had needed an extra frame on Nov. 26 at Dartmouth, when Sally Komarek's goal after 51 seconds ended the game in the Big Green's favor.

The Huskies won the overtime shots battle, 3-1, but again could not put the Wildcats away. O'Neill won a faceoff with Pickett with nine seconds to play, but Coyne blocked Horn's shot as time expired with the teams still deadlocked.

Minton's play over the final two periods kept a potent Northeastern attack mostly at bay, with 26 saves and one goal against. Schelling put pad to 20 UNH shots in Northeastern's first draw of the season.

The two teams will not wait long to settle their differences; they meet tomorrow afternoon at Matthews Arena. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m.