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BOSTON – Trailing 3-0 entering the third period, the Northeastern men's ice hockey team (5-10-2) came storming back to score three times in the final frame to earn a 3-3 draw against St. Lawrence (8-8-2) on Friday night at Matthews Arena.
 
Adam Reid capped off the comeback with the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation with the goalie pulled, while Nolan Stevens and Trevor Owens also scored for the Huskies. Clay Witt made 28 stops in net for Northeastern, which outshot SLU 36-31.
 
The Saints received 33 saves from freshman goaltender Kyle Hayton and had power play goals from three different scorers.  St. Lawrence was 3-of-8 on the man advantage and won 39-of-69 face-off, while NU was 0-of-7 on the power play.
 
Northeastern had its chances during a first period that saw the Huskies outshot SLU 9-7, but it was the Saints who capitalized on its best chance of the frame to take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room. NU had a pair of power play chances in the opening period, and nearly took a 1-0 lead when Ryan Rosenthal fired a one-timer from the slot off a feed from John Stevens, but Hayton was there to make the save.
 
With St. Lawrence on the power play midway through the period, the Saints drew first blood as Brian Ward snapped a shot from the right faceoff dot that beat Witt for Ward's fourth goal of the season. Minutes later, SLU thought it had taken a two-goal lead when a puck deflected off Mike Marnell and past Witt, but the officials waved off the goal, indicating that Marnell directed the puck into the goal with his hand.
 
Penalties were the story of the second period, with the teams combining for 19 minutes in infractions (Northeastern 11, St. Lawrence 8), and the Saints potted two goals on the man advantage in less than a minute to take a commanding 3-0 lead through 40 minutes of play. St. Lawrence began the frame with extended zonetime in the NU end, forcing Witt to make a big pad stop on Tommy Thompson.
 
At the other end of the ice, Mike Szmatula had a bid to tie the game at one when he took the puck to the net hard, trying to sneak a shot under the pad of Hayton, but the SLU netminder was there to make the save. Later in the period, Colton Saucerman had an opportunity of his own in the final moments of a Northeastern power play when he had the puck on the doorstep, but he couldn't tuck the puck past Hayton.
 
The Saints were awarded a five-minute power play after Zach Aston-Reese was assessed a major penalty for boarding, and SLU took advantage with two goals in less than a minute. The first came from Sean McGovern, who knocked home a loose puck atop the crease off an initial bid from Woody Hudson. Then the Saints went up 3-0 just 45 seconds later when Gunnar Hughes buried a rebound off a shot from Patrick Doherty.
 
NU began to claw its way back into the contest early in the third period as Nolan Stevens netted his second goal of the season when his brother, John, stole the puck in the SLU zone before dishing to Nolan for a shot that got over the left shoulder of Hayton less than two minutes into the frame.
 
The comeback continued midway through the final frame as Owens notched his first collegiate goal, taking a pass from Torin Snydeman in transition and sending a dart over the right shoulder of Hayton to make it 3-2.
 
The Huskies kept up momentum through the final minutes of regulation, outshooting the Saints 16-5 in the third before pulling Witt in favor of the extra skater with 1:04 to play. That's when Reid potted the game-winner, sneaking a shot past Hayton off a feed from Szmatula from behind the cage to send the game into overtime.
 
Each team had a golden chance to net the game-winner in overtime, when Alex Hagen firing a shot from the right side in search of a rebound that NU was able to clear before Snydeman redirected a shot from the point with 33 seconds left, but Hayton was there to make the stop.
 
The teams will meet again tomorrow in the series finale at Matthews Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.

Season tickets, as well as individual game tickets, are available for men's ice hockey and can be purchased by visiting GoNU.com/tickets. In addition, the student sale for the 2015 Beanpot will take place on Saturday, January 17, 2015 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Matthews Arena lobby. Please contact the Ticket Office by calling 617-373-4700 or emailing huskytix@neu.edu with any questions.

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