Box score

Postgame comments (Jim Madigan - YouTube.com)

Despite a goal by junior Garrett Vermeersch 38 seconds into the contest, the Northeastern men's hockey team was sunk by four unanswered Boston University goals in the second period to ultimately fall at Agganis Arena, 5-2, on Friday night.

With the loss to the Terriers and the University of Massachusetts defeating Merrimack on Friday night, Northeastern's 2012 Hockey East playoffs hopes have come to an end.

Freshman Ludwig Karlsson added the Huskies' second tally on the two-man advantage midway through the third period. Sophomore Anthony Bitetto and junior Vinny Saponari were NU's other point scorers (via Karlsson's goal).

Junior goaltender Chris Rawlings started the game, lasting through the first two periods before sophomore Clay Witt started the third frame. Rawlings steered aside 16-of-20 shots while Witt stopped all six shots faced. The Terriers' fifth tally came on the vacant net. BU's Kieran Millan stopped 25 shots in the victory.

Northeastern wasted no time getting on the boards after Vermeersch went coast-to-coast for the early strike 38 seconds into the contest. Vermeersch blocked a shot off a draw in NU's end and raced up the right side with Saponari flanking to the right. Vermeersch opted for the wrist shot from the right circle and fooled Millan on the blocker side for the 1-0 edge at 00:38.

The Huskies kept BU from getting back and evening the score early on after the penalty-killing unit staved off a sophomore Steve Morra elbowing call at 5:12 of the first period. Northeastern limited the Terriers to shots from the perimeter and Rawlings snuffed all attempts out.

Rawlings made another stand 11 minutes into the first frame after Matt Nieto beat his man and tried a backhand crossover on the crease. NU's netminder shifted to his left and denied the scoring bid.

Junior Alex Tuckerman nearly extended the lead at the 17:00 mark of the first stanza. Sophomore Braden Pimm corralled a rebound off the far boards and streaked down the left side of the ice. Pimm split his defenseman with the pass to Tuckerman out front, but Tuckerman ran out of real estate and Millan gained the angle to thwart the backhand attempt.

At 17:27, a myriad of penalties transpired after junior Justin Daniels and Justin Courtnall created a 4-on-4 situation. At 18:15, Chris Connolly gave the Huskies the man advantage at 18:15 with a slash, but Northeastern negated the call with a too many men infraction at 19:19. Boston University took a pair of high-percentage chances at the end, but Rawlings turned them away to close out the first frame.

After all the first-period penalties cleared, junior Drew Ellement committed the first infraction of the second stanza at 4:30, proving costly as the Terriers scored a minute later.

Northeastern minimized the Terriers' chances before Alex Chiasson won a battle in the corner and passed out to Nieto on the left dot. Nieto tried to connect with Garrett Noonan on the far post, but the puck redirected off a Husky defenseman's stick and through Rawlings' legs to tie it up on the power play, 1-1, at 5:30.

Nineteen seconds later, Boston University struck again to take its first lead of the game at 5:49 of the second stanza. Wade Megan stripped the Huskies down low to Rawlings' right and before he could get to his bearings, Megan sniped a wrist shot on the short side for the 2-1 advantage.

Kevin Gilroy's hitting from behind penalty at 7:04 opened the door for the Huskies to tie it up, but at 8:32, Noonan scored on a perfect give-and-go play with Megan to take the 3-1 lead on the short-handed goal. Noonan and Megan worked the middle of the circles before Noonan beat Rawlings in a similar spot to the Terriers' second marker.

The Huskies could not convert on a Yasin Cisse boarding call at 10:39 of the second and BU capitalized off the momentum, stretching out its lead to three goals at 17:16.

Alexx Privitera generated the play with a pass from the far boards out to Ross Gaudet at the blue line. Gaudet slung the puck through the circles and Ryan Santana was in perfect position out front to get the tip-in tally for the 4-1 buffer.

Tuckerman gave the Terriers an extra skater at 1:33 to start the third period with a high-sticking penalty. The Huskies killed it and then relayed it into a 5-on-3 power play strike at 7:22.

Cisse took his second penalty at 5:29 and Noonan's cross-check at 7:15 gave Northeastern 15 seconds of two-man advantage. The Huskies wasted no time as Bitetto passed over to Karlsson at the top of the zone. Karlsson saw his opportunity, skated in and smoked a snapshot past Millan at 7:22 to cut BU's lead to two, 4-2.

The Terriers penalty-killing unit upped the pressure on Noonan's call and offered a couple of chances on Witt, but the backup goaltender made three-consecutive saves to keep the Huskies in the hunt.

After a whistle at 14:51 of the third period, head coach Jim Madigan pulled Witt in favor of an extra skater, but Chris Connolly benefitted off a broken play in the neutral zone and scored from the top of the left circle at 15:42 to make it a 5-2 affair.

Northeastern had some looks with the extra skater down the stretch, but the Huskies could not dig into BU's lead as the game concluded in favor of the Terriers, 5-2.

Northeastern draws the curtain on the 2011-12 season schedule tomorrow night at Matthews Arena when the Huskies square off against the Terriers at 7 p.m. Northeastern will honor three members of the 2008-09 class: Mike McLaughlin, Steve Quailer and Alex Tuckerman as part of 'Senior Night'.

Game Notes
• Garrett Vermeersch scored his third goal in five games and fourth point in five games. The Macomb, Mich. native became the fourth Husky to score nine goals this season.

• Ludwig Karlsson is the first Husky to the 10-goal plateau this season. The Stockholm, Sweden's tally was Northeastern's fourth 5-on-3 goal of the season.

• Vinny Saponari registered an assist on Ludwig Karlsson's piower play goal in his first trip back to Agganis Arena since skating two seasons with the Terriers.