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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Trailing 3-0 three minutes into the second period, the Northeastern women's ice hockey team (14-9-2, 8-6-1) responded with six unanswered goals to knock off Vermont (6-15-3, 4-6-3) on Sunday afternoon at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Kendall Coyne led the Huskies with four points, including her second natural hat trick of the season.
Brittany Esposito (three assists) and
Rachel Llanes (one goal, one assist) also recorded multi-point games for the Huskies, while
Kelsey O'Sullivan made 24 saves in goal.
Both teams had their chances on special teams throughout the contest in a game that saw a combined 36 minutes in penalties. NU capitalized on two of its seven opportunities on the power play, while Vermont was 1-of-7.
The Huskies carried the play for the first 10 minutes of the opening period, testing Douville and the Catamount defense with shots from all angles, including a slap shot from
Tori Hickel at the point that rang off the left post, but a UVM power play midway through the frame gave lift to the Vermont offense, which scored twice in less than two minutes to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.
With
Colleen Murphy in the box for a body check, Amanda Pelkey netted her fifth goal of the season when she took a pass from Erin Wente and roofed a backhand over the right shoulder of O'Sullivan for a 1-0 Catamount lead.
Gina Repaci put the home team up 2-0 with 5:44 left in the frame when she beat O'Sullivan on a wrister following a pass from Brittany Zuback.
NU had its chances to dig itself out of the two-goal hole, including a power play late in the frame.
Rachel Llanes nearly made it a 2-1 game when she blasted a one-timer from the left dot where Roxanne Rouville (30 saves) made a pad save going post-to-post to deny the score.
It took a goal from Danielle Rancourt three minutes into the second period for the Northeastern offense to come alive as the Huskies scored the final three goals of the frame to knot the game at three aside through 40 minutes of play. Rancourt scored her sixth of the season 2:57 into the period when she received a pass from Kellie Dineen, beating O'Sullivan for a 3-0 UVM lead.
The Huskies would take it from there, potting three goals in 11 minutes to level the score. The first came from
Katie MacSorley 8:03 into the period when she took a pass from
Brittany Esposito, and snuck a shot past Douville for her seventh of the season.
Coyne would net the next two for NU, the first coming with Northeastern on the power play. After Murphy dished a pass to Coyne along the half wall, she wheeled around the faceoff and sent a shot through traffic and over the shoulder of Douville for the score.
The Huskies made it 3-3 with 45 seconds left in the frame when
Rachel Llanes won a clean faceoff back to Coyne, who then rifled a shot over the left shoulder of Douville for her 24th goal of the season.
NU continued to build momentum at the start of the third period as Coyne gave NU its first lead of the game just 45 seconds into the frame. After breaking the puck out of the zone, Coyne flew past the UVM defense and sent a backhand through the pads of Douville to complete the hat trick.
Repaci was assessed a hooking minor during the Coyne goal, putting the Huskies on the power play for the sixth time in the game. That's where
Kelly Wallace made it 5-3 Northeastern when she collected her own rebound from in front of the net and stuffed it past Douville for her ninth goal of the season.
NU extended its lead to 6-3 during a brief 4-on-4 situation midway through the frame when Llanes picked up her 10th of the season, sending a shot past replacement goaltender Kelci Lanthier following an initial shot off the post from Esposito.
Vermont had its chances late in regulation when the Huskies were called for three straight penalties, but the NU penalty killing unit stood its ground to prevent any Catamount rally.
The Huskies will be back in action on Saturday when Northeastern completes its three-game road trip at No. 5/5 Boston University in a Beanpot tune-up at 3 p.m.
Game Notes: Northeastern is now 23-3-4 all-time against Vermont, including a 12-1-2 mark at Gutterson Fieldhouse … NU's 3-0 deficit in the second period was the largest against UVM since Feb. 22, 2008 … Coyne recorded her eighth multi-goal game of the season, and has nine goals and four assists in her last five games … Esposito tied a career-high in points and assists (three), and has three goals and three assists in her last four games ... Burlington, Vt. native
Maggie DiMasi extended her point streak to five games (six assists).
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