Box Score

Postgame comments (Jim Madigan)

ORONO, Maine - Senior captain Vinny Saponari scored his second-consecutive goal early in the second period, but Maine responded with two goals and an empty-netter in the final period of play to sink the Northeastern men's hockey team on Friday night at Alfond Arena, 3-1.

The Huskies' penalty-killing unit kept Maine off the board on all four UM opportunities while senior goaltender Chris Rawlings stopped 31-of-33 shots in the setback. With depleted front lines, Maine outshot the Huskies, 34-20. Maine's Martin Ouellette stopped 19 shots in his eighth win of the season.

Maine applied the game's first pressure with a couple opportunities in close on Rawlings in the first five minutes of action.

Both clubs traded opportunities throughout the first period before Klas Leidermark's hitting from behind call on sophomore Dan Cornell created the first power play chance of the night. After Rawlings made a huge stop on a short-handed bid crafted by Stu Higgins and Mark Anthoine off the initial draw, junior Cody Ferriero rang a slap shot off the pipe from above the circles. Maine eventually killed off the penalty and held an 11-8 advantage in shots through 20 minutes of play.

Action picked up quickly in the second stanza as Maine posed the first threat. Adam Shemansky fed Joey Diamond on the near post for the one-timer, but Rawlings zeroed in on the blast and snapped the disc out of thin air to deny Maine's scoring play.

Rawlings' save turned momentum over to Northeastern and Saponari's great play in close on Ouellette yielded the first goal of the game at 1:20 of the second period.

Rookie Mike McMurtry chipped a puck out to junior Braden Pimm in the neutral zone and skated it into Maine territory. Pimm handed it off to Saponari on the blue line in stride. Saponari split two defensemen and flipped a perfect-placed wrist shot over Ouellette's blocker to give the Huskies the 1-0 lead.

Following Saponari's marker, the Huskies committed three-consecutive penalties at 3:53, 9:32 and 11:37 of the second frame. Ferriero went off for hooking at 3:53 while rookie Dustin Darou was whistled for cross-checking at 9:32. Right after Darou's penalty, NU stepped onto the ice early for a too many men call.

The Huskies' penalty-killing corps was swarming, but Rawlings anchored the entire effort, making save after save from all over the ice. After killing off three-straight penalties, Rawlings shifted from the far post to deny Shemansky on the opposite side to Northeastern in favor, 1-0.

Heading into the second intermission, NU gained a huge opportunity after Jake Rutt was cited for a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct at the 19:39 mark of the second period, but the Black Bears' penalty-killing unit snuffed out Northeastern's big advantage.

The ice tipped in Maine's favor after killing off the extended penalty and quickly scored the game's next two tallies to claim the 2-1 lead.

Rawlings made a huge glove save on Kyle Beattie when NU had the extra man near the 3:30 mark, but Beattie got revenge at 6:30 on a tough angle to tie it up. Beattie looked to rim the puck around the boards and forced Rawlings off his bearings. Beattie tossed it in on net and Rawlings thought he had the angle pinched off, but the puck somehow found its way over the goal line.

The Black Bears were denied on their fourth power play of the game after NU killed Ferriero's trip at 8:02, but UM maintained pressure in Northeastern's end and scored at 10:28 to claim its first lead of the game.

Shemansky smacked the puck in from the right circle and it made its way in front of Rawlings. Jon Swavely tried to bang in the rebound, but his shot caromed out to Ben Hutton in between the circles. Rawlings was sprawled out onto the ice, still trying to recover from Swavely's attempt and Hutton picked his spot on the wide open cage to gave Maine the 2-1 lead.

Rawlings kept Northeastern within a goal after making a huge stop on a breakaway from Will Merchant with five minutes to play, but the Huskies could not beat Ouellette as time waned on and the Black Bears found the back of the net once head coach Jim Madigan opted for an extra skater.

Joey Diamond swiped the puck on a strong forecheck behind NU's unguarded cage. Mark Anthoine was in position to accept Diamond's pass and put away the empty netter at 19:00 to ice Maine's 3-1 triumph.

Northeastern stays in Orono to close out the regular-season series with Maine tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Game notes
• Vinny Saponari has now scored in his last two contests. The Powder Springs, Ga., native has scored consecutively now three times as a Husky. It marks the second occassion of the season for Saponari.