Box Score | Season Stats | Post-game Interview With Head Coach Dave Flint
ORONO, Maine – With the score tied 2-2 entering the third period, the No. 10 Northeastern women's ice hockey team (17-10-2, 9-7-1) scored three times in the first eight minutes of the final stanza to skate away with a 5-2 victory at Maine (5-21-3, 2-14-2) on Saturday afternoon at Alfond Arena.
Brittany Esposito and
Kendall Coyne both recorded two goals on the day for the Huskies, while
Chloe Desjardins made 29 saves in goal. Kylie Smith got the nod in goal from the Black Bears, making 14 saves before being replaced by Brittany Ott (four saves) in the third period.
The win moves Northeastern into a tie for third place in the Hockey East standings with New Hampshire, while Providence trails by one point in fifth place. Maine outshot NU 31-23 in the game while neither team could capitalize on the power play with NU going 0-of-1 and the Black Bears 0-of-3.
The Black Bears came out firing in the first period, outshooting NU 14-4 and erasing an early 1-0 deficit with two goals in the final five minutes of the frame.
Desjardins was forced to make several tough saves in the opening minutes of the contest on shots from the perimeter of the zone, including one from Katy Massey that resulted in a rebound in the slot, but the Husky defense was able to clear it out of danger from Maine could crash the net.
Northeastern took a 1-0 lead midway through the stanza when Coyne potted her 30th goal of the season. At the end of her shift, Coyne picked up a loose puck in the slot off a pass from
Katie MacSorley. Coyne then sent a backhand in on goal while falling away from the play that beat Smith over the left shoulder for the score.
The Black Bears would respond six minutes later to knot the score at one when Kayla Kaluzny jumped on a loose puck in front of the NU goal to net her second of the season. After Desjardins turned aside a shot from Jennifer More at the right side, the puck trickled out in front of the left post, where Kaluzny sprinted in to knock it home before Desjardins could get across the crease.
Maine would take its first lead of the afternoon with less than a minute left in the period when Brittany Dougherty skated around an NU defender, took the puck across her body and tucked a low shot inside the right post for her 12th goal of the season and a 2-1 Black Bear lead.
Northeastern began to take control of the game in the second period, holding an 8-5 advantage in shots on goal while netting the equalizer with 7:01 left in the frame.
Rachel Llanes almost evened the score with less than nine minutes left in the frame on a transition play from
Maggie DiMasi and Coyne, resulting in a shot from the slot that rang off the crossbar.
Two minutes later, the Huskies made it a 2-2 game when Esposito scored her second goal in as many games, and eighth of the season. After having her initial shot blocked into the corner while entering the zone, Esposito gathered her own rebound, skated back out above the hashmarks and sent a wrister off the left shoulder of Smith and into the net.
At the other end, Desjardins handled all five Black Bear shots during the second, including one from Dougherty from in tight that left a rebound in the crease, but
Colleen Murphy was there to send the puck out of the zone. Later in the frame, Dougherty had another chance during a Maine power play when she fired a slap shot from the right side that Desjardins snared with her glove.
NU opened the third period with a bang, scoring twice in the first three minutes of the frame to take a 4-2 lead. The first came from Esposito, who allowed the Huskies to sustain pressure in the attacking zone by keeping the puck inside the blue line as the Black Bears tried to clear. Later in the play,
Paige Savage dished to
Tori Hickel at the point, who then sent a low shot in on goal that Esposito got a stick on, beating Smith five-hole for a 3-2 Husky lead 1:59 into the frame.
On the ensuing faceoff, Northeastern took a two-goal lead when MacSorley skated down the right side of the ice, and sent a shot on goal that got past Smith for her ninth goal of the season.
NU took a commanding three-goal lead seven minutes into the period when Coyne registered her second of the game when she hammered home a short pass from Llanes, stationed below the goal line, beating Smith short side for the score.
Desjardins would hold up her end of the bargain in the third, including a big save on More trying to beat her five-hole with 7:37 left in regulation.
The Huskies and Black Bears will faceoff again in the final meeting of the season series tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.
Game Notes:
• Northeastern is now 23-15-5 all-time against the Black Bears, and extends its unbeaten streak to nine games (7-0-2) dating back to Nov. 15, 2009.
• NU has not lost at Alfond Arena since Jan. 30, 2009, going 3-0-3 since.
• Coyne's first period goal gave her 30 for the season, becoming the first Husky since Brooke Whitney in 2001-02 to score 30 goals in a season.
• Coyne extended her point streak to nine games on Saturday (15 goals, seven assists), which ties a career-long.
• Coyne is two points away from becoming the 22nd player in program history to reach 100 career points, and only the third player to complete the feat in two seasons.
• Coyne is now fourth on the NU record list for single season goals, and eighth in single season points.
• NU's 2-1 first period deficit marked the first time since Nov. 15, 2009 that the Huskies have trailed Maine at any point in a game, a span of 544:19.
• Esposito tied a career-high with two goals, and has six goals and five assists in her last eight games.
• Savage has four points (one goal, three assists) in her last two games.
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