Box score

Post-game comments (Jim Madigan - YouTube.com)

The Northeastern men's hockey team suffered a 4-0 loss on Friday night at No. 14/13 UMass Lowell in the club's lone trip to Tsongas Center of the regular season. The setback snaps a five-game winning streak against the River Hawks; Northeastern's longest winning stretch against a league opponent.

The River Hawks dominated the shot totals, winning the battle 32-20. Junior netminder Chris Rawlings steered aside 28 shots to slip to 8-9-3 while UML backstopper Doug Carr blocked all 20 shots in his 12th triumph of the season.

Scott Arnold tallied a pair of goals while Derek Arnold and Daniel Furlong accounted for the other markers. UMass Lowell carried a 1-0 advantage into the first intermission and stretched it out to a 4-0 goal cushion, including a short-handed strike midway through the second stanza.

The first three minutes of the game saw both sides muster a few attempts from far out before sophomore Cody Ferriero's cross-check at 3:44 gave way to the first power play of the game for UMass Lowell. The Huskies carried out the penalty kill but gave up the first goal of the game just moments after.

Zack Kamrass chipped the puck in low down to Joseph Pendenza in the near corner. Pendenza tried to jam home the backhand attempt as Rawlings hugged the post, but the puck jutted out to Scott Wilson on the opposite pipe. Despite a sprawled out Rawlings, Wilson was able to stash the rebound at 5:49 before the stop could be made to give the River Hawks a 1-0 advantage.

UMass Lowell returned the favor after a Pendenza roughing infraction at 8:22 to put Northeastern on the man-advantage. The Huskies controlled for the duration, allowing the puck to be cleared just once. Junior Steve Quailer and senior Mike McLaughlin offered up the best opportunities, but Carr was in position to keep NU off the board.

Rookie Dan Cornell committed Northeastern's second penalty of the frame at 15:43, but UMass Lowell could not convert. The River Hawks controlled the tempo throughout the duration of the first stanza and took the one-goal lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.

UMass Lowell channeled that momentum into an early second period goal from Derek Arnold at 1:27. Junior Vinny Saponari cleared the puck out to centerman Garrett Vermeersch on the red line, but Daniel Furlong induced the turnover and sprinted down the left side of the sheet. Furlong shoved it up to Arnold and he stuffed it past Rawlings as he fell to the ice to give the River Hawks the two-goal pad.

After rookie Josh Manson's boarding call at 4:54 of the second went unharmed, UMass Lowell countered with a short-handed tally at 10:49.

Wilson was sent off for tripping at 9:48 and following a grade-A chance from Vermeersch between the circles, Matt Ferreira broke up NU's cycle on the blue line and dashed through the neutral zone. Ferrreira was patient with the pass and deferred to Daniel Furlong to the right side. Furlong corralled the puck and zipped a hard wrister past Rawlings' mitt for the 3-0 edge.

Northeastern killed off a junior Robbie Vrolyk slashing call at 15:16 of the second, but Lowell added its fourth with just 17 seconds remaining in the middle session.

The Huskies had an opportunity on the near post before Furlong broke up NU's offense and sent it up to Chad Ruhwedel on the blue line. Ruhwedel relayed the disc to Wilson in the seam, allowing him time to crafty a nifty deke around Rawlings at 19:43 for the four-goal buffer.

After a Wilson and Pendenza were hauled off for boarding and holding, respectively, at 8:14 and 9:01, the Huskies gained a great opportunity to stop the bleeding for 1:15 of 5-on-3 action.

Northeastern targeted Carr several times, but UMass Lowell's penalty kill made another big play as Josh Holmstrom broke through at the top of his own zone and charged on Rawlings with rookie Ludwig Karlsson in pursuit. Karlsson had no choice but to commit a penalty on Holmstrom to prevent another River Hawks' short-handed goal at 9:44 (slashing). The heavy window of special teams did not yield any noteworthy chances on either end, including the 30 seconds of 4-on-3 play.

UMass Lowell sat on its hefty margin and closed out the game with the 4-0 triumph. Northeastern closes out its regular season series with UMass Lowell tomorrow night at Matthews Arena. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m.

Game Notes
• Northeastern's loss to UMass Lowell snaps a five-game winning streak against the River Hawks. It was the Huskies' longest winning streak over a Hockey East opponent, outscoring UML, 14-7, within that stretch.

• The 4-0 shutout against UMass Lowell marks the first time the Huskies have not scored a goal in a game since losing at home to Boston College last season on Oct. 9, 2010. The blanking snaps NU's 56-game streak of not being shut out. It was also the first time Northeastern had been shutout on the road since the 2008-09 season, losing at Boston University (3-0) on Nov. 16, 2008.