Box Score

Greg Cronin press conference (VIDEO)

2010-11 Men's Hockey Digital Media Guide

The sixth-seeded Huskies had the early 1-0 lead, but third-seeded Boston University rattled off three unanswered and Northeastern could not catch up as the Terriers forced game three in the 2011 Hockey East quarterfinal round.

Boston University outshot the Huskies, 37-32, as sophomore netminder Chris Rawlings took the loss. After BU's third goal, rookie Clay Witt staffed the net and stopped 29-of-30 shots. Terriers' goalie Kieran Millan made 30 saves for the victory.

Rookies Brodie Reid and Jamie Oleksiak were the Huskies goal scorers on Friday evening.

Northeastern was plagued with 12 penalties on the night, keeping its recent surging offense off the ice for a majority of the game. The Huskies went 1-7 on the power play while BU went 1-10.

Northeastern was granted an early advantage after a pair of BU penalties saddled the Terriers from the game. Joe Pereria (1:32) and Sean Escobedo (2:14) infractions gave the Huskies 1:19 of 5-on-3 and Reid hammered home the power play marker to draw first blood at 3:25. Steve Silva worked the puck out of the near corner to Wade MacLeod atop the right circle. With a good amount of real estate, MacLeod passed it to Reid for the one-time rip between the circles for the 1-0 lead.

Boston University responded with a blast from Ryan Ruikka at 6:20 to tie the fast-paced game up, 1-1. Alex Chiasson handled the puck down low and tossed it back through the slot. The rubber caromed off of a Husky defender and Ruikka was in prime position to pick the right corner from between the circles for the equalizer.

Wade Megan and MacLeod took respective penalties two seconds apart at 6:36 and 6:38. Before those came to a conclusion, rookie Cody Ferriero sat for cross-checking at 8:26 and Max Nieto cashed in on the power play goal at 9:19 to claim BU's first lead of the series. Chris Connolly wheeled the puck out of NU's zone and connected with Nieto on the left dot. Nieto poked it through Rawlings' five-hole to take the 2-1 edge.

The Terriers added a third at 13:01 to shove ahead, 3-1. Connolly got into a tiff behind the net and lost the puck, but Kevin Gilroy swooped in from behind and carried it out to the left circle. Before the defense could make a play, Gilroy zeroed in on the right corner and forced NU head coach Greg Cronin to pull Rawlings in favor of Witt.

Northeastern avoided treachery after Randy Guzior and Rob Dongara took simultaneous penalties at 15:43 to give BU a full two-minute two-man advantage. The trio of Mike Hewkin, Drew Ellement and Braden Pimm stood together and plugged up the middle to avoid facing a three-goal deficit with two periods left to play.

The Huskies continued their trot to the penalty box, taking four-consecutive infractions, but the NU penalty-kill was unflappable within that window. Northeastern killed all four penalties and the momentum continued as Oleksiak found the back of the net at 19:34. The freshman gloved down a BU clear along the boards and rifled the disc towards the net. The rubber caught the stick of a defenseman and it deflected into the cage to cut it within one, 3-2, with just a few seconds to go in the second frame.

After a Luke Eibler hooking call subsided at 8:03 of the third, Boston University added to its one-goal lead at 11:37. The Terriers controlled the tempo leading up to the goal and Pereira put his stamp on the board for the 4-2 lead. Pereira emerged from a scrum behind the net and was able to stuff the puck under Witt's pad on the wraparound.

At 14:39, Northeastern went on the power play with just over five minutes to go in the game, but Millan continued to guard his domain and helped BU clinch victory, 5-2. Pereira added an empty netter with 35 seconds to go for BU's fifth tally of the evening.

Northeastern returns to Agganis Arena for the fifth-straight time for game three on Sunday, March 13 at 7 p.m. The winner of Sunday's contest will go on to the TD Garden for the semifinal round of the 2011 Hockey East playoffs.

Game Notes
• Wade MacLeod earned his 40th point of the season with an assist and is now tied with Leo Dupere (64-68-132) as the 22nd most prolific point scorer in Northeastern history.

• Steve Silva has tallied at least one point in every game against Boston University this season with four goals and three assists. Silva is also riding a five-game point streak.