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BOSTON – Four power play goals and three points each from Zach Aston-Reese (one goal, two assists) and Matt Benning (three assists) sent the Northeastern men's ice hockey team (16-13-5, 10-8-4) to a 7-1 victory against Maine in a wild affair on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.
 
NU, which led 3-1 through the opening 20 minutes of play, dictated the game for most of the evening to outscore the Black Bears 4-0 over the final two periods. The teams combined for 66 penalty minutes in the game (Maine 50; Northeastern 16), setting the table for a 4-of-7 showing for the Huskies on the man advantage.
 
The Huskies received goals from seven different scorers, including seniors Kevin Roy, Colton Saucerman and Mike McMurtry who celebrated Senior Night with classmates Dustin Darou, Jarrett Fennell and Derick Roy prior to the game. Aston-Reese, Adam Gaudette, Nolan Stevens and Tanner Pond also scored for the Huskies, while Ryan Ruck made 22 stops in goal before being relieved by Derick Roy (four saves) midway through the third period.
 
Saturday puts an exclamation point on an eventful regular season for Northeastern, which began the year 2-12-3 and in 12th place in Hockey East before ending on a 14-1-2 tear to take sixth place in the final conference standings. The Huskies will host Maine in a best-of-three first round playoff series next weekend at Matthews Arena.
 
Goal descriptions:
• The Huskies took a 1-0 lead 7:28 into the game on Gaudette's 10th of the season with Northeastern on the power play. With less than 30 seconds left on the man advantage, Zach Aston-Reese controlled the puck along the half wall before spotting John Stevens at the point. Aston-Reese fed the puck up to the blue line, and Stevens quickly sent it right back down to Gaudette at the left post, who then tucked it around Morris for the score.
 
• Northeastern went up 2-0 three minutes later on Nolan Stevens' 16th of the season as he sped to the net and redirected an Aston-Reese pass from the right side past Morris.
 
• Roy put the Huskies on top by three with 6:25 left in the first period on his fifth goal of the season. After taking a feed from Matt Benning entering the attacking zone, Roy sped towards the net and was broken up before somehow finding the loose puck in traffic and sending it inside the left post for the score.
 
• Maine cut into the deficit with 5:01 to play in the frame with a power play tally of its own. After Eric Schurhamer picked up the puck behind his own goal, he threaded a pass up to Nolan Vesey, who split a pair of defenders and went in alone on Ruck before sending a shot over his shoulder for Vesey's fifth of the year.
 
• Northeastern went back up by three with 6:33 left in the second period on the team's second power play tally of the night. After Mike McMurtry and Dylan Sikura played catch with the puck along the right side, Sikura threaded a pass across the grain to Saucerman at the left face-off dot. Saucerman then made no mistake, ripping a shot top shelf for his third of the season.
 
• McMurtry got into the action with 3:51 remaining in the second period on his eighth goal of the year, stationing himself in front of the cage and cleaning up the mess after a one-timer from Eric Williams caught the pipe.
 
• Tanner Pond added Northeastern's fourth power play goal of the night with 3:04 left in regulation when he redirected a Jarrett Fennell shot from the point through Morris.
 
Stats of the game:
• Northeastern is now 42-56-19 all-time against Maine, and sweeps the Black Bears in the regular season series for the first time since 2008-09. The win is the first for the Huskies on Senior Night since 2012.

• The Huskies' seven goals against Maine were the most since January 4, 2008, and is only the 12th time in the 117 meetings that NU has scored at least seven goals against the Black Bears.
 
• NU will host Maine in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs next weekend. It's the first time since 2001 that the two teams will meet in the postseason.
 
• Northeastern is unbeaten in 16 of its last 17 games (14-1-2), which is the best stretch in program history. In that span, the Huskies have given up just 15 goals in the second and third periods, the fewest in the nation in that span.
 
• NU is 10-0-1 in its last 11 Hockey East games, the longest conference unbeaten streak in team history.
 
• Saturday's win guarantees that the Huskies will finish .500 or better for the third straight season, which hasn't happened since 1966.
 
• The Huskies scored a season-high four power play goals on Saturday. It's the most power play goals in a game since NU scored five at Massachusetts on Dec. 16, 2014. Northeastern is now 10th in the nation in power play percentage (21.9%; 32-of-146), and is one of nine teams in the country with at least 30 power play goals.
 
• Roy moved into a tie for 18th on Northeastern's all-time scoring list on Saturday night (140 points). He is also tied for 23rd in career goals at Northeastern (60) and into 19th place in career assists (80).
 
• Ruck is 14-1-2 in his last 17 starts with a 1.45 goals against average (fifth in the nation in that span) and .937 save percentage (eighth in the nation in that span)
 
• The Huskies scored at least four goals for the seventh straight game on Saturday, the first time that's happened since 1989-90 season.
 
• Saucerman's second period goal was NU's 21st goal from a defenseman this season, tied for the sixth most in the nation.
 
• John Stevens (11 assists) and Nolan Stevens (six goals, eight assists) extended their point streaks to a season-long seven games.
 
• Gaudette is on a three-game point streak (two goals, two assists) and has seven goals and 13 assists in the last 15 games, while Sikura has points in 11 of his last 13 games (seven goals, six assists).
 
• Benning tied a career-high with three assists on the night, and has five assists in his last five games.
 
The road ahead:
• Northeastern and Maine will meet again next weekend in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. The best-of-three series at Matthews Arena begins on Friday at 7 p.m.