Box Score | Season Stats | Post-game Interviews
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – With the score tied at one late in the second period, the No. 10/10 Northeastern women's ice hockey team (20-10-2, 12-7-1) potted four unanswered goals to skate to a 5-1 victory against Providence (14-13-5, 8-9-3) on Saturday night at Schneider Arena.
With the victory, the Huskies secure the No. 3 seed in the Hockey East playoffs, and will host Vermont on March 2 at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena.
Casey Pickett led Northeastern with two goals and two assists in the game, while the Huskies netted shorthanded goals in the first and third periods.
Chloe Desjardins made 25 saves in goal to backstop NU to its six straight victory, while Sarah Bryant had 23 stops for the Friars.
NU held a 28-26 edge in shots on goal for the game, and was 1-of-4 on the power play while holding PC to an 0-of-4 showing on the man advantage.
The teams played an even first period with both squads testing the opposing netminders, but an early goal from
Paige Savage put the Huskies on top in the opening minutes of the contest.
With
Maggie DiMasi in the box for a slashing minor, Savage gave NU a 1-0 lead just 3:42 into the game with her eighth goal of the season. With the Friars moving the puck in the NU zone, Savage blocked a shot from a PC defender at the point, springing the puck out into the neutral zone. Savage, not breaking stride, flew past the defender, gathered the loose puck and fired a shot through the five-hole of Bryant for the score.
The Pickett,
Rachel Llanes and
Kendall Coyne line had several chances throughout the frame to extend the Northeastern lead, the best coming with NU on the power play when Llanes tipped a Coyne shot from the right faceoff dot before Pickett tried to hammer the loose puck inside the right post.
At the other end, Northeastern was the beneficiary of an early whistle midway through the period when a Providence dump-in bounced under the arm of Desjardins, but the officials blew the play dead before the puck crossed the goal line.
Desjardins made several key saves for NU in the first stanza, including a quick reaction off a redirected puck in the slot before Beth Hanrahan tried to tuck the puck inside the right post, but Desjardins flashed a pad to make the save late in the frame.
While Providence held much of the momentum for most of the second period, netting the tying goal in the first seven minutes, the Huskies seized it right back with two goals in the final two minutes of the frame to hold a 3-1 lead after two.
With the Friars sustaining pressure in the Northeastern zone, Providence leveled the score a one aside 6:32 into the frame when Victoria Virtue netted her first goal of the season. After Haley Frade passed the puck up to Molly Illikainen at the point, Illikainen fired a shot towards goal that Virtue got a piece of, beating Desjardins to make it 1-1.
PC, which held a 14-8 edge in shots during the middle frame, continued to test Desjardins, but the sophomore goaltender kept her composure for the remainder of the frame.
NU would regain the lead with 1:26 left in the period when
Kelly Wallace scored her 12th goal of the season when she took a drop pass from
Brittany Esposito, and fired a shot from a tough angle that beat Bryant five-hole for a 2-1 Husky lead.
NU would go up by two exactly one minute later when Pickett registered her 18th of the season following an NU dump in. After DiMasi chipped the puck into the Providence zone, Coyne raced past a PC defender to gather the loose puck, feeding Pickett for a quick shot past Bryant with 26 seconds left in the period.
Pickett gave the Huskies a commanding three-goal lead with Northeastern shorthanded seven minutes into the third period when she stole the puck from a PC defender exiting the zone, went in on Bryant, dragged the puck across the crease and backhanded a shot past the Friar netminder for her second goal of the night and a 4-1 Husky lead.
Northeastern would go on the power play with 7:01 left in regulation, and Llanes would record her 12th goal of the season with 5:57 to play when she hammered home a pass from Coyne on the doorstep.
The Huskies will close out the regular season tomorrow afternoon against the Friars at 4 p.m. from Matthews Arena. Prior to the contest, NU will honors its four seniors (
Casie Fields,
Siena Falino, Llanes, Pickett) for their dedication to the program and the Northeastern community.
Game Notes:
• Northeastern secured home ice for the Hockey East quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.
• NU is now 44-54-11 all-time against the Friars.
• Northeastern moves to 20-10-2 on the season, marking the first time since the 1998-99 and 1999-00 season that the Huskies have recorded at least 20 wins in back-to-back seasons.
• NU has won its last six straight games, which is tied for the third longest active winning streak in the nation.
• Savage extended her point streak to five games on Saturday (three goals, five assists).
• Savage's first period goal gave the Huskies five shorthanded goals on the season, the most in Hockey East and tied for the fifth most in the country.
• Pickett's assist extended her point streak to six games (five goals, 10 assists), tying a career-long.
• Pickett now sits in 15th place on the NU record list for career points (119) and 15th in career assists (62).
• Coyne extended her scoring streak to 12 games (18 goals, 11 assists), and moved into 16th on the single-season assist list (26). It's the first time since Brooke White in 2001-02 that NU has had a player with at least 25 assists.
• Llanes has two goals and four assists in her last four games, and moves to within one point of becoming the 23rd player in program history to record 100 career points.
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