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

AMHERST, Mass. – The No. 12/12 Northeastern men's ice hockey team (17-10-3, 9-6-1) scored five of the game's first six goals before surviving a late Massachusetts (8-19-4, 4-11-3) rally to hang on for a 5-4 victory on Saturday night at the Mullins Center.

Five different Huskies scored for the Huskies, including Tanner Pond's first collegiate goal, while Kevin Roy, Adam Reid, Ryan Belonger and Zach Aston-Reese also scored for NU. Redshirt junior netminder Clay Witt made more than 30 saves for the third straight game, turning aside 32 shots.

Michael Pereira and Conor Sheary both recorded a goal and an assist for the Minutemen, while Steve Mastalerz made 16 stops in goal. UMass outshot NU 36-21, while both squads went 0-of-4 on the power play and UMass won 29-of- 57 draws.

UMass controlled the tempo of the game in the opening minutes of the contest, outshooting NU 8-1 in the first five minutes of the game, but it was the Huskies who notched a goal with 5:07 left in the frame to take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room.

Witt came up big for Northeastern early on, stoning Branden Gracel on a breakaway in the game's first minute, drawing a crosschecking minor on Mike Gunn. On the ensuing power play, UMass nearly jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Ray Pigozzi batted a puck out of midair, but Witt was there to make the save.

After Northeastern went on the power play near the midway mark of the period, the Huskies began to tilt the ice in their favor, sustaining pressure in the offensive zone and consistently testing Mastalerz. Mike McMurtry tried to connect with Adam Reid on a pass from behind the cage with seven minutes to play, but a Minuteman defender was able to get a stick in the passing lane to thwart the bid.

NU went up 1-0 on in transition from the defensive zone with 5:07 remaining in the stanza as Roy skated the puck up-ice and fed Mike Szmatula with a pass in the slot. Szmatula then sent the puck right back to Roy, who fired it into traffic where it ricocheted off the body of a Minuteman and past Mastalerz for Roy's 16th goal of the season.

Witt bailed out the Huskies early in the second period when he went post to post to deny Conor Sheary of a rebound bid off an initial shot from the left side. Northeastern built off the momentum from the Witt stop to take a 2-0 lead minutes later on a goal from Reid when he skated out from behind the goal line and tossed the puck off the skate of a defender and past Mastalerz.

Roy put his speed on display six minutes into the period when he flew back to break up a two-on-one shorthanded chance from the Minutemen before beating out an icing call at the other end before feeding Braden Pimm in the slot for a chance on goal.

Ben Gallacher cut into the Northeastern lead with 2:54 left in the frame when he knocked home a loose puck after Witt dove across to stop the first shot from the left side.

Northeastern, however, would respond with 54 seconds left in the period as Ryan Belonger knocked home his fourth goal of the season. After a UMass defenseman fanned on a shot at the point, Roy picked up the loose puck and went in two-on-one with Belonger. Roy when fed Belonger at the right post, who sent it past Mastalerz.

The Huskies kept their foot on the gas pedal coming out of the intermission, and took a three-goal lead less than two minutes into the third on Pond's first collegiate tally. Aston-Reese began the play with a hard shot on net that popped off the pad of Mastalerz and onto the stick of Pond, who buried it for a 4-1 NU lead.

Aston-Reese got himself on the scoring column with his fifth of the season two minutes after the Pond tally when Aston-Reese went in on a breakaway and tucked a shot under the pad of Mastalerz to make it 5-1.

The Minutemen came storming back with two consecutive shorthanded tallies to make it a two-goal game. The first came from Michael Pereira when he picked the pocket of an NU defender off the faceoff and snapped a shot short side past Witt. Sheary made it 5-3 just 1:21 later with another shorthanded tally, sending a rebound past Witt off a shot from Pereira.

Massachusetts brought it back to a one-goal game with 9:36 left in regulation as Zack LaRue tipped a shot from Colin Shea at the point through traffic and past Witt for his first of the season.

UMass would pull Mastalerz in favor of the extra skater with 1:19 to play in regulation, but the Huskies were able to stave off a last ditch effort from the Minutemen to secure two points in the league standings.

The Huskies will be back in action next weekend when Northeastern welcomes Maine to Matthews Arena for a two-game set, beginning Friday night at 7 p.m.

Game Notes:
• Northeastern is now 45-26-10 all-time against Massachusetts, and has earned a split or better against six conference opponents this season.

• The Huskies won their 17th game of the season on Saturday, the most for the team since the 2008-09 season.

• Northeastern is now 7-2-1 in its last 10 games at the Mullins Center, its best active stretch against a conference opponent on the road.

• NU won it's 11th game away from home this season, which is tied for the second most wins away from home in the nation.

• The Huskies improved to 7-2-2 in the last 11 seasons in the game played immediately after the second night of the Beanpot.

• Saturday marked the 16th time this season that the Huskies have been held to less than 30 shots on goal. They are 9-6-1 in those games.

• The NU freshman class combined for two goals and two assists on Saturday, and lead the nation in rookie scoring with 34 goals and 77 assists.

• Witt made at least 30 saves for the third straight game, and 17th time this season. He is second in the nation with 859 saves, and still leads the nation in save percentage (.943).

• Witt is 15-8-2 this season, making him one of nine goaltenders in the nation with at least 15 victories. His 15 wins are tied for sixth on the Northeastern single-season record list.

• NU is now 10-1-1 this season when Roy scores a goal. He is the first Husky since Wade MacLeod in 2010-11 to notch at least 35 points in a season (16 goals, 20 assists). He is one of seven players in the nation with at least 15 goals and 20 assists.

• Pond became the fifth Husky rookie to score his first collegiate goal this season.

• Aston-Reese recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season; two of them have come against Massachusetts.

• Pimm's third period assist gave him 12 on the season, which ties a career-high.

• Mike Jamieson and Dustin Darou both returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games.