Box Score

Postgame comments (Jim Madigan)

ORONO, Maine - Northeastern converted half of its power play chances (3-for-6) in a wild 4-4 draw at Maine on Saturday night, but the Huskies skated away with bitter tastes in their mouths after learning their postseason hopes would end at Alfond Arena.

The Huskies can still leapfrog Massachusetts in the final Hockey East standings, but with two games to play and a five-point Maine lead, NU cannot elevate to eighth place and win that final Hockey East postseason bid.

Freshman Colton Saucerman broke out offensively with a pair of power play tallies along with an assist for his first-career multi-point performance as a Husky. Senior captain Vinny Saponari also tacked on three assists, obtaining his second playmaker of the season and first since the Boston College Beanpot championship game on Feb. 11. Junior Cody Ferriero scored his 10th-career power play goal and seventh of the season while veteran Steve Morra was credited with the game-tying goal at 5:44 of the second period.

Senior goaltender Chris Rawlings (8-12-1) started Saturday night's game and surrendered four goals on 17 shots. Classmate Bryan Mountain (1-7-3) chipped in with a sterling relief effort, earning his third draw of the year after turning aside all 34 Maine attempts in 39:48 minutes of work.

Maine blasted NU's goaltending combo all night as the Huskies surrendered a season-high 51 shots. Northeastern countered with 39 attempts.

The Black Bears power play unit was also clicking, converting 3-of-7 of their chances. The first six goals of the Saturday's game were on the power play.

Physical play permeated the entire contest, but was extremely evident in the first few minutes. Maine offered up the first grade-A chance of the night after freshman Dustin Darou was stripped behind the net and the puck ended up on the stick of Kyle Beattie. Rawlings stood his ground and stoned Beattie on the crease. Just over a minute later, junior Braden Pimm was stuffed by Ouellette following a great feed from Saucerman.

Adam Shemansky's slashing call at 7:36 ignited the power play party that ensued in the first stanza.

Northeastern took the draw, descended into Maine territory and perfectly executed the first power play goal at 8:12 on a tic-tac-toe set-up from Saponari to Ferriero. Saucerman provided Saponari with the puck who then relayed it across the zone over to Ferriero on the left dot. Ferriero gathered the puck and zipped it into the right side of the net to give Northeastern the 1-0 lead with the power play strike.

Maine responded two and a half minutes later after sophomore Josh Manson was cited for roughing at 10:43. Joey Diamond and Devin Shore created the scoring play in the neutral zone, allowing Ryan Lomberg to slice down the right side of the sheet and stuff a near-sided bid past Rawlings to cinch it up, 1-1, at 11:09 of the first frame.

The power play flurry continued after sophomore Dax Lauwers took a cross-checking penalty in a scrum in front of NU's net at 13:49. On the ensuing play, Maine took advantage 15 seconds later to go ahead, 2-1.

Ben Hutton offered the initial blast and Stu Higgins swiped the rebound off of Rawlings out to Shemansky in between the circles. With Rawlings sprawled out looking for the puck, Shemansky was able to pick his spot without much in the way to convert the Black Bears' second-straight power play tally at 14:03.

The Black Bears continued to march to the penalty box one after the other. Jon Swavely and Diamond were called for interference and hitting from behind at 18:02 and 18:40, respectively, to close out the first period.

The Huskies gained 1:23 of two-man advantage and capitalized with 11.9 seconds left on the clock to button it up, 2-2.

Northeastern patiently passed it around with Saponari triggering the play over to Ferriero on top of the right circle. Ferriero saw Saucerman unguarded and the rookie defenseman picked a low spot on Ouellette and popped it past to tie it as both teams headed off for the first intermission.

Even though NU capitalized on one of the 5-on-3 opportunities, the Huskies were not done as Saucerman struck again 17 seconds into second period, connecting on his second power play goal of the game.

Saponari threw the puck in front of Ouellette, trying to set up sophomore Adam Reid on the rebound. Reid chipped at the loose disc on the crease and the puck found its way onto the lumber of Saucerman on the far post. Saucerman dunked the easy lay-up to reclaim Northeastern's lead, 3-2.

After Maine staved off a Diamond cross-checking call at 1:55, the Black Bears netted their third power play goal at 4:13 by taking advantage of a too many men call whistled on NU at 4:02.

Diamond made the smart play from the far post, coaxing Rawlings over to the left post. Diamond quickly drilled the puck through the crease over to Steven Swavely, making Rawlings go side-to-side. S. Swavely beat Rawlings to the puck half a second earlier and connected to tie it again, 3-3, at 4:13.

Fifty-nine seconds later, Maine chased Rawlings from net after Mike Cornell managed to sneak a knuckler over the goal line from way out on top of the right circle. Will Merchant made the play from the neutral zone and Cornell's soft wrister at 5:12 forced NU head coach Jim Madigan to pull Rawlings in favor of Mountain with Maine ahead, 4-3.

The offensive explosion continued when the Huskies tied it up, 4-4, 32 seconds later on hard work from Morra and junior Zak Stone at 5:44.

Stone gained the blue line after stripping the Black Bears on a heavy forecheck on the red line. Stone skated the puck in hard behind Ouellette and snuck it out to Morra who blazed in from the left side. Without hesitation, Morra zipped Stone's perfect pass through Ouellette's five-hole to draw Northeastern even.

Pimm nearly lit the lamp on a patient backhander five minutes into the third, but the rubber sailed wide.

Pimm and Beattie both took penalties at 12:17 and 13:08 to create a 4-on-4 situation, but each club kept it conservative and neither team attacked with the extra real estate.

Mountain forced overtime after a huge stop on Bill Norman with 2:25 to play in regulation. NU's fourth-year netminder stood his territory and thwarted the unattested shot by Norman to give the Huskies life in the extra frame.

In overtime, Saponari nearly had a breakaway, but a pair of Black Bears collapsed on him near the post and turned him away. On the other end, Ferriero had to do everything he could to keep Diamond from scoring in close and unfortunately took a slashing call with 20.1 seconds left in the game.

Despite being down a man, the Huskies gained the Maine zone and somehow managed to get the puck to defenseman-converted-to-forward Manson all alone on the crease in front of Ouellette. Manson took his shot, but did not catch all of it and the puck was greeted by the chest protector to settle the 4-4 draw.

Northeastern will play its final regular season series of the 2012-13 ledger with a pair against cross-town rival No. 19 Boston University. CBS College Sports will broadcast live from historic Matthews Arena on Friday night to a national television viewing audience at 7:30 p.m. The Huskies will cap the regular season on Saturday night at Agganis Arena at 7 p.m.

Friday night's game will be Senior Night at Matthews Arena. Northeastern's seven seniors are Drew Ellement, Garrett Vermeersch, Steve Morra, Chris Rawlings, Bryan Mountain, Vinny Saponari and Robbie Vrolyk. Mountain technically still has one year of eligibility left remaining because he did not play in the 2011-12 season.

Game Notes
• Colton Saucerman scores his first two career power play goals in a big spot, converting both the Huskies' markers in a 5-on-3 situation. The Colorado Springs, Colo., native also added an assist on Cody Ferriero's power play goal, counting for his first-ever multi-point performance as a Husky (2-1-3).

• Cody Ferriero has now scored seven power play goals this season and accounted for 10 in his career.

• Vinny Saponari registered his second playmaker of the season, posting three assists on Saturday night at Maine. The Powder Springs, Ga., native's first playmaker occurred against Boston College in the Beanpot Tournament. Mike McMurtry also turned the trick at UMass on Feb. 19. Saponari is now one point shy from reaching the 100-point mark for his collegiate career (34-65-99).

• Steve Morra scored his third goal of the season and first since registering consecutive goals against UMass Lowell on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26.

• Northeastern curbed a five-game winless streak at Alfond Arena on Saturday night with its 4-4 draw at Maine. The Huskies' last win in Orono occurred on Oct. 25, 2008, in 2-1 fashion. The last time these two teams tied in Orono was on Jan. 29, 2005 (2-2).