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BOSTON – Trailing 5-2 with less than three minutes left in regulation, the No. 10 Northeastern women's ice hockey team (11-9-2, 5-6-1) scored twice in 10 seconds, but could not net the equalizer as No. 5 Boston University (15-3-3, 10-2-1) escaped with a 5-4 victory on Wednesday night at Walter Brown Arena.
The Huskies tied a season-high with three power play goals on the night in a penalty filled battle between the two squads. Sarah Lefort recorded a hat trick to lead the Terriers, who outshot NU 38-22 for the game, went 2-of-6 on the man advantage and won 34-of-58 faceoffs.
Kelsey O'Sullivan made a career-high 17 stops in goal for the Huskies in relief of
Chloe Desjardins (16 saves), while Kerrin Sperry had 18 saves for the Terriers.
After going down 2-0 through the first 11 minutes of the contest, the Huskies battled back to net a power play goal with 3:51 left in the stanza to cut the deficit to one. Sarah Lefort got things started with a power play goal for the Terriers less than six minutes in when she positioned herself atop the crease, collected a rebound from a Jenelle Kohanchuk shot, and beat Desjardins for her 11th goal of the season.
BU would extend its lead to two five minutes later as Louise Warren scored her ninth of the season after taking a feed from Jill Cardella and firing a shot through the five-hold of Desjardins.
Northeastern would answer, however, as
Lucie Povova netted her second goal in three games with the Huskies on the power play. After NU returned to full strength during four-on-four play,
Kendall Coyne took a shot on goal that was handled by Sperry, but Povova was there to clean up the mess and bury it for her second of the season.
Boston University peppered NU with 16 shots in the second, and would add two goals in the first 10 minutes of the period to open up a 4-1 advantage, but a
Brittany Esposito goal at the buzzer brought the Terrier lead back down to two. Lefort picked up her second power play tally of the night 56 seconds into the frame when she beat Desjardins in close off a shot from Shannon Doyle.
Nine minutes later, Isabel Menard scored her ninth of the season when she corralled a rebound from a Warren shot, and snuck it past Desjardins, prompting the Huskies to insert O'Sullivan into the game.
As the teams traded penalties throughout the remainder of the period, Esposito hammered home her fourth goal of the season. After Wallace caused a turnover with NU on the power play, Esposito controlled the puck below the goal line before bolting out and stuffing a shot under the right pad of Sperry as the clock expired.
Northeastern was awarded two more power play opportunities in the third period, but could not sneak a shot past Sperry early on in the frame. BU, meanwhile, received a goal from Lefort with 10:14 left in regulation when she snapped a shot over the blocker of O'Sullivan to complete the hat trick.
NU would continue to fight, however, as Coyne brought the Huskies to within two with 2:07 left in regulation when she fired a shot that went off the post and past Sperry with NU on the man advantage.
Following a Terrier timeout, the Huskies made it a one-goal game yet again as
Paige Savage scored her fifth goal of the season off a shot from Wallace. The Huskies would pull O'Sullivan in favor of the extra skater, but could not net the equalizer.
The Huskies will be back in action on Sunday when Northeastern hosts Providence at 2 p.m. on ESPN3. Sunday will be NU's Skating Strides game, with all proceeds going towards the fight against breast cancer.
Game Notes: Northeastern is now 31-21-5 all-time against Boston University … Povova's first period goal broke a string of 20 straight power plays without a goal … All five of Povova's points this season have come in conference play … Coyne's two points gives her 28 points in her last 16 games (13 goals, 15 assists) … Pickett recorded her first point since Dec. 5 against Dartmouth … O'Sullivan saw her first action in goal since Nov. 16 against No. 5 Boston College … Esposito has four points in her last four games (two goals, two assists) … NU had a season-high eight power play chances.
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