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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 10 Northeastern women's ice hockey team (2-0-0) used a four-goal first period and a career-high 34 saves from Chloe Desjardins to down Syracuse (0-2-0) on Saturday afternoon at Tennity Ice Pavilion, 5-2.

“I thought we came out strong,” said head coach Dave Flint. “We had a good jump in our step and got out to a 4-0 lead. I knew coming out for the second period they (Syracuse) were going to come out hard at us, and they did. They put a lot of pressure on us and popped one in to make it 4-1. It could have been 4-2 or 4-3, but Chloe played great and we regrouped.”

Rachel Llanes led the Huskies with a goal and two assists, while Kendall Coyne and Tori Hickel each added a goal and an assist. Syracuse held a 34-20 edge in shots for the game, while NU was 3-of-6 on the power play. SU was 0-of-5.

The Huskies dominated the first period from the opening puck drop, outshooting the Orange 13-8 and burying four goals, all from different scorers. The first came just 3:05 into the game with NU on the power play as Coyne skated around three SU defenders and fired a backhand on goal that trickled over the goal line for the sophomore's second goal of the season.

Just 1:13 later, NU made it 2-0 on a highlight reel goal from Brittany Esposito. After taking a feed from Llanes, Esposito toe dragged around an Orange defender and roofed a backhand over SU goaltender Jenesica Drinkwater's shoulder for the score.

Casey Pickett got into the act midway through the frame with her first goal of the season. After Coyne pilfered the disk in the defensive zone, she skated through the neutral zone and sent the puck across the Pickett, who snuck a shot past Drinkwater.

Following Pickett's goal, Desjardins stoned Nicole Ferrara on a breakaway, but a NU defender covered the puck in the crease, awarding a penalty shot to the Orange. Holly Carrie-Mattimoe would take the shot for SU, but Desjardins was there to steer aside the bid. NU would make it 4-0 with 2:58 to play in the frame as Llanes buried a power play goal for her first of the season.

The Huskies weathered the storm during the second period as Syracuse outshot NU 18-4, and netted a goal six minutes into the stanza. Kaillie Goodnough made it a 4-1 contest with her first goal of the season when she took a pass from Julie Knerr and fired a slap shot through traffic and past Desjardins for the score.

Northeastern upped its lead to 5-1 three minutes into the third period with their third power play tally of the afternoon. After taking a pass from Llanes, Maggie DiMasi fired a bullet through traffic that was redirected by Hickel for her first collegiate goal. Syracuse would make it a three-goal game once again nine minutes later as Laurie Kingsbury fired a shot into the right side of the net for her first goal of the season to close out the scoring.

Northeastern will be back in action next weekend as the Huskies host Union on Friday at 7 p.m. in the team's home opener at Matthews Arena.

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Game Notes: Northeastern improved to 2-0-1 all-time against Syracuse, and is 26-3-5 in October contests since 2008 (19-2-4 under Flint) ... Northeastern's four first period goals are the most since Jan. 21, 2012 against New Hampshire ... Llanes tied a career-high with three points.