Box Score  | Season Stats | Infographic | Press Conference | Highlights

BOSTON – The Northeastern men's ice hockey team (16-13-4, 11-8-2) scored three times in the first and added three more in the second period before holding off No. 4 Boston University (20-7-5, 13-5-3) in a back and forth bout on Friday night at Agganis Arena, 6-5.
 
The Huskies received goals from six different skaters, while John Stevens had three assists. Clay Witt made 24 stops in goal while Matt O'Connor had 25 saves before being replaced by Connor LaCouvee (nine saves) midway through the game. Evan Rodrigues recorded a hat trick and Danny O'Regan had three helpers to lead the Terriers.
 
NU outshot Boston University 40-29 in the game, including a 34-18 edge through the first 40 minutes of the game. Both teams took advantage of its power play opportunities, with each squad going three-of-four.
 
The teams combined for five goals during a wild first period that saw Northeastern bolt out to a 3-0 advantage before the Terriers buried two goals in the final 75 seconds of the frame to cut the deficit to one through 20 minutes of play. NU, which outshot Boston University 20-7 in the opening frame, took a 1-0 lead when Szmatula notched his 13th goal of the year when he redirected a Dustin Darou shot from the point through O'Connor.
 
With the Huskies on the power play less than two minutes later, Kevin Roy netted his 18th of the year, and second of the week, when his wrist shot from the right dot hit a body on its way to the net, sneaking through O'Connor.
 
Nolan Stevens would then put Northeastern up by three just 23 seconds after the Roy tally when he knocked home a shot from Garret Cockerill at the right side for his third of the season.
 
BU began to mount a comeback late in the period when Nick Roberto tipped a Doyle Somerby shot atop the crease to beat Witt, who had stoned Matt Lane with a sprawling stick save moments earlier. The Terriers made it a one-goal game with a power play marker of their own with 39.7 seconds to go in the stanza on Evan Rodrigues' 15th of the year, taking a cross-ice feed from Jack Eichel and roofing a shot under the crossbar.
 
Northeastern took back control of the game in the second period, scoring three goals in the first 12 minutes of the frame. The first came off the stick of Zach-Aston Reese, who blasted a shot past O'Connor from the top of the slot after an initial shot from Cockerill was blocked.
 
Dylan Sikura got into the action with 10:49 to go in the stanza when he buzzed around the net before scooping a loose puck in the crease past O'Connor, prompting BU head coach David Quinn to insert Connor LaCouvee into the game. NU kept the pressure on, however, and capitalized on a five-on-three power play with 7:56 to go in the period when Dalen Hedges one-timed a pass from Roy past LaCouvee for Hedges' ninth of the year.
 
Boston University brought it back to a three-goal game with 54 seconds left in the frame when the Terriers kept NU pinned in its own end for more than a minute before Rodrigues snuck a shot past Witt despite big shot blocks from Matt Benning and Darou earlier in the shift.
 
The Terriers made it interesting in the third period, scoring twice to bring themselves within one. Ahti Oksanen notched his 20th goal of the season following a scrum in front of the Northeastern net, sneaking a shot under Witt's pad to make it 6-4 less than a minute into the period.
 
BU scored again with 5:43 to play in regulation to cut the deficit to one goal when Rodrigues completed the hat trick with a snipe through traffic and into the top left corner for his 17th of the season.
 
Boston University would pull LaCouvee in favor of the extra skater with two minutes to play in the third, but NU was able to hold off the Terriers to secure the crucial two points in the league standings.
 
The teams will square off in the regular season finale on Saturday night at Matthews Arena. Puck drop is slated for 8 p.m. on NESN.