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ORONO, Maine – The Northeastern men's ice hockey team (15-11-4, 10-7-2) jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead before holding off a late Maine (12-18-3, 7-10-2) surge to pick up a 6-4 victory on Friday night at Alfond Arena.
 
NU received goals from six different scorers, including two from Dylan Sikura, and had three assists from John Stevens. Clay Witt, meanwhile, made 24 stops.
 
Maine outshot Northeastern 28-26 as Connor Leen, Ben Hutton and Brian Morgan all logged one goal and one assist apiece. Matt Morris got the nod in goal, making six stops on 10 shots before being replaced by Sean Romeo (14 saves).
 
The Huskies wasted little time in taking control of the contest, scoring four times in the opening period on 10 shots. With NU on the power play less than two minutes into the game, Saucerman potted his seventh goal of the season when he cleaned up the mess in front of the Maine goal following a shot from Matt Benning at the point, burying the rebound for an early 1-0 Northeastern lead.
 
NU made it 2-0 just 52 seconds later on Brendan Collier's second goal of the year. After receiving a pass from Kevin Roy in the defensive zone, Trevor Owens skated the puck up ice before centering to a cutting Collier, who beat Morris on a one-timer.
 
Dylan Sikura gave the Huskies a commanding 3-0 lead with 9:19 to go in the first period when he took a feed from John Stevens along the half wall before sending a laser past Morris, prompting a Maine timeout. Northeastern went up 4-0 nearly six minutes after the Sikura tally as Zach Aston-Reese tapped home a pass from Torin Snydeman, who had chased down a loose puck following a faceoff win in the NU defensive zone. After the goal, Maine head coach Red Gendron inserted Romeo into the net.
 
At the other end, Witt held up his end of the bargain in the first, turning aside all 10 shots he faced, and received a little help from Dax Lauwers with a pair of shot blocks in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Maine pressured the Huskies in the second period, and cut the deficit to three about eight minutes into the frame, but a late Northeastern goal gave NU its four-goal cushion back heading into the second intermission. The Black Bears capitalized on a Husky turnover with 12:24 to play in the period a Northeastern defender was stripped of the puck near the cage, resulting in a one-timer from Connor Leen in the slot past Witt.
 
Romeo kept the Black Bears alive as the period wore on, making a pair of big stops midway through the stanza, first on Adam Reid during a two-on-one with Collier before stoning John Stevens in transition minutes later.
 
The Huskies would break through, however, with 1:16 to go in the second when Nolan Stevens saucered a backhand pass up to Mike Szmatula, who joined the rush off the bench, who beat Romeo five-hole to make it 5-1 Huskies.
 
Maine began to claw its way back into the game in the third period, potting three goals in the final 20 minutes of play. The first came from Ben Hutton 6:23 into the frame when he blasted a shot from just inside the point that made its way through traffic and past Witt for the score.
 
The Huskies struck back less than a minute later on Sikura's second of the game, receiving a pass from John Stevens and sniping a shot into the top right corner. The goal was briefly reviewed and stood as called.
 
Maine buried two goals in the game's final six minutes to make it interesting, beginning with Cedric Lacroix's fourth goal of the year, banging home a rebound off a shot from Mark Hamilton.
 
With Romeo pulled in favor of the extra skater, the Black Bears made it 6-4 when Brian Morgan knocked a rebound past Witt off a Lacroix shot from the left side.
 
The teams will square off again in the series finale tomorrow night at Alfond 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. Please contact the Ticket Office by calling 617-373-4700 or emailing huskytix@neu.edu with any questions.

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Game Notes:
• Northeastern is now 40-55-19 all-time against Maine, and picks up its first win at Maine since Oct. 25, 2008.
 
• NU is riding a seven-game winning streak, tied for the second longest in program history and longest since the 1980-81 season.
 
• The Huskies are unbeaten in its last eight games (7-0-1), tied for the fifth longest in program history.
 
• Saucerman's first period goal was his seventh power play goal of the year, the most for any defenseman in the nation.
 
• Benning has seven assists in his last four games.
 
• Aston-Reese extended his point streak to four games (five goals, four assists).
 
• Torin Snydeman has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last three games.

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