Box Score  | Season Stats | Highlights | Post-game Press Conference

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Northeastern men's ice hockey team (7-5-0, 2-4-0) received two goals apiece from Dalen Hedges and Kevin Roy, while Clay Witt made 29 saves in goal to lead the Huskies to a 5-2 victory at Merrimack (3-7-1, 0-4-1) on Friday night at Lawler Arena.

Mike Szmatula also scored for the Huskies as nine different skaters recorded points on the night, including multi-point efforts from Nathan Ferriero, Hedges and Roy. Merrimack outshot NU 31-25 for the game and went 2-of-8 on the power play. Northeastern, meanwhile, was 0-of-3 on the man advantage.

Despite being outshot 9-3 in the first period, it was the Huskies who capitalized on their chances in the opening frame to take a 2-0 lead into the dressing room. Northeastern went up 1-0 midway through the stanza when Szmatula netted his fifth goal of the season. Zach Aston-Reese began the play by chasing down a loose puck behind the Merrimack goal and throwing it in front of the cage. As bodies descended towards the crease, Szmatula was able to get his stick on the puck and send it past Marotta. The officials took a look at the goal during a lengthy review, but the called stood.

The Huskies went up by two 2:14 after the Szmatula tally when Hedges potted his third of the year. After Josh Manson cleared the puck out of the Northeastern zone with a pass up to Nathan Ferriero, Ferriero sent it across to Hedges entering the zone. Hedges then pulled a quick toe drag around a Warrior defender before blasting a low shot past Marotta.

NU was forced to kill off four penalties during the first period, and held Merrimack to four shots on goal during the man advantages. The Husky penalty kill, led by Manson, was able to keep MC to the sides and clear pucks out of the slot to limit the Merrimack bids. The Warriors' best chance of the frame came late when MC fired a shot off the post just as a Northeastern penalty expired, and the Huskies benefited from a quick whistle to freeze the play.

Merrimack was able to cut the deficit in half during the second period, netting a power play goal less than four minutes into the frame and holding a 10-7 in shots throughout the middle stanza. The Warriors made it a 2-1 contest 3:21 into the second when Vinny Scotti notched his third goal of the season, one-timing a pass from Quinn Gould behind the goal past Witt for the score.

Northeastern made a few chances to regain its two-goal advantage following the Scotti tally, including one from Hedges at the goal line when he took a pass from Colton Saucerman at the point and tried to stuff one inside the right post, but Marotta recovered to make the stop. Later in the period, Kevin Roy went in two-on-one with Tanner Pond  and threaded a backhand pass across to Pond at the far post, but Marotta went post to post, squeezing the pads to deny the Huskies.

NU took the game over in the third period, scoring twice in the first six minutes of the frame to take a commanding three-goal lead. The first goal came during a delayed penalty on the Warriors as Roy took a feed from Hedges and ripped a quick wrister into the top left corner from the slot.

The Huskies went up by three on Hedges' second of the night three and a half minutes after the Roy goal. Nathan Ferriero started the play by causing a turnover in the NU zone and dishing up to his brother Cody Ferriero, springing the Huskies on a three-on-one. Cody Ferriero controlled the puck down the right side before hitting Nathan with a pass for a one-timer that Marotta saved, but Hedges was there to hammer home the rebound.

The Warriors made it a 4-2 game with 8:25 remaining in regulation when Gould tossed a low shot on goal that got under the pad of Witt for his fourth of the year just six seconds into an MC power play.

Roy put the Huskies back up by three with 5:18 left in the third period when he received a backhand pass from Braden Pimm and flew in on Marotta. Roy's initial shot was stopped, but he followed his own rebound to knock it home for a 5-2 Northeastern lead

The teams will meet again tomorrow night as Northeastern returns home to host the Warriors at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena.

Game Notes:
• Northeastern is now 48-39-10 all-time against Merrimack, and picks up its first win at Lawler Arena since Dec. 4, 2010.

• Roy became the 56th player in team history to record 50 points in his first two seasons of college hockey.

• The Northeastern freshmen class had three goals and four assists on Friday, and is third in the nation in freshmen scoring with14 goals and 38 assists.

• Northeastern's five goals on Friday were the most Northeastern has scored against Merrimack since Feb. 5, 2010.

• Friday's win marked the fourth road victory of the season for the Huskies, matching last season's total.

• Szmatula has a point in 11 of Northeastern's 12 games this season, and has four goals in his last six games.

• Nathan Ferriero recorded his first collegiate multi-point game, while Cody Ferriero, Hedges and Roy also had multi-point efforts.

• Mike Gunn dressed in his first game of the season on Friday.