Game-day information: Game 36 vs. Maine
When	Saturday, Mar. 5, 7 p.m.
Where	Boston, Mass.  |  Matthews Arena  |  Directions
Broadcast and stats	Live Stats  |  Video  |  Audio  |  Tickets
Notes and yearbook	Game Notes  |  2015-16 Yearbook
Promotions	n/a
Social media	@GoNUmhockey  facebook.com/GoNUmhockey instagram.com/GoNUathletics  Use #GoNU

BOSTON -- Coming off a thrilling come-from-behind overtime victory last night, the Northeastern men's ice hockey team will go for the series sweep against Maine in game two of the Hockey East First Round tonight at Matthews Arena. Last night's win was NU's third straight playoff game to go to overtime, and was also the team's eighth straight one-goal game in the postseason dating back to 2011.
 
Huskies hockey coverage this weekend
This weekend's games will be broadcasted through the Pack Network on HockeyEastOnline.tv. Fans can purchase a league pass for access to up to 25 Hockey East playoff games for $59.95, beginning with this weekend's opening round series at Boston University, Northeastern, Merrimack, and UConn. Individual contests can be purchased for live viewing for $9.95 per game.
 
Huskies Radio (WRCA 1330 AM) will carry all Northeastern postseason games this weekend on the air and at HuskiesRadio.com.

Back to the playoffs
NU is back in the Hockey East playoffs for the third straight season, and 24th time in program history. It also marks the 10th time in 24 playoff appearances that Northeastern enters the playoffs as the No. 6 seed or higher.
 
Playoff hockey at Matthews Arena
This weekend will mark the second straight season that the Huskies will host a Hockey East playoff series. Last season, the Huskies saw their season end abruptly with a pair of losses to Merrimack in the opening round of the league tournament, dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime on Friday before a double overtime defeat the next afternoon, 2-1. Northeastern is 8-7 in Hockey East playoffs games played at Matthews Arena, and has advanced to the next round in three of their seven home playoff series.
 
A tale of two seasons
Northeastern's sluggish start to the 2015-16 season was well documented, coming out of the gates 1-10-2 before the team's trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the first-ever Friendship Four. After an overtime loss to then No. 4 UMass Lowell, the Huskies rebounded with a 7-1 win against Colgate in the consolation game and haven't looked back since.
 
"I thought it was the turning point of our season," said head coach Jim Madigan. "Our lineup had settled in and we knew how we had to play without are two key offensive players, and went into Northern Ireland with a game plan that was."
 
Since the trip the Huskies are 15-2-3, including a 10-1-2 mark in league play that catapulted NU from 12th to sixth place in the league standings in a span of six weeks.
 
Streaking
NU is unbeaten in 17 of its last 18 games (15-1-2), and is on an eight-game winning streak, the second longest streak in team history. It's nine-game unbeaten streak, (8-0-1) meanwhile, is the longest active streak in the nation.
 
During this recent stretch, the second for Northeastern in as many seasons, the Huskies are averaging 4.00 goals per game (fourth in the nation in that span) and conceding just 1.67 goals per game (the third fewest in the nation in that span). NU's opponents have been held to two goals or fewer in all but three of those games, and the Huskies are 8-0-1 at home during the recent stretch of success.
 
Northeastern's lockdown defense in the last 18 games has limited its opponents to just 15 goals in the second and third periods of games, the lowest total in the nation. It's +34 goal differential in the second and third periods in the last 18 games is the highest in the nation. Despite averaging 30.61 shots on goal during the last 17 games, NU's 13.1% shooting percentage is third in the nation in that span led by Nolan Stevens' 25% mark (nine goals on 36 shots).
 
Throughout this stretch the Huskies went 10-0-1 in conference games, which is the longest unbeaten streak in league play since Northeastern joined Hockey East at the start of the 1984-85 season.
 
The all-time series with the Black Bears
Northeastern and Maine are meeting for the 119th time in team history on Saturday night, with the Black Bears owning a 56-43-19 edge in the all-time series. The series has tightened up in the last few seasons, however, with NU holding a slight advantage at 5-2-3 in the last 10 meetings.
 
The two teams met last weekend in the regular season finale, with the Huskies earning their first weekend sweep of the Black Bears since 2008. On Friday night, Eric Williams scored twice and Ryan Ruck made a career-high 34 stops as the Huskies held off a late Maine surge to top the Black Bears, 5-3. It was all Huskies the following night with NU receiving goals from seven different scorers en route to a 7-1 win on Senior Night at Matthews Arena.
 
Northeastern and Maine will be meeting in the postseason for the eighth time, and first since 2001. The Black Bears are 6-2 in the previous playoff games with the Huskies, with NU's lone win coming in the 1988 championship game prior to last night.
 
Scouting Maine
Maine enters Saturday's game looking to get back on track after dropping each of the last three games to NU. Maine is 8-23-6 overall this season, and is the No. 11 seed in this year's conference tournament. The Black Bears are averaging just 1.97 goals per game this season, the fourth fewest in the nation, while conceding 3.38 goals per game (11th in Hockey East).
 
Maine has been led by its upperclassmen this season, with juniors or seniors occupying the top six scoring totals on the team. Junior Blaine Byron is at the top with 23 points on the year (eight goals, 15 assists), while senior Will Merchant trails close behind with a team-high 13 goals with eight assists.
 
Matt Morris and Rob McGovern have split time between the pipes this season for Maine. Morris is 6-10-3 on the year with a 3.54 goals against average and .901 save percentage, while McGovern is 2-13-3 with a 2.75 goals against and .907 save percentage.
 
Recapping last night's win vs. Maine
Matt Benning's goal 4:41 into overtime completed the comeback for Northeastern, which erased a two-goal first period deficit to take game one of the Hockey East First Round series against Maine on Friday night at Matthews Arena, 3-2.
 
The Black Bears scored twice in 17 seconds late in the first period to take a 2-0 edge before NU clawed back with a goals from John Stevens and Kevin Roy in the second and third periods, respectively, to force overtime. That's when Zach Aston-Reese dropped a pass for Benning in the slot, and he rocketed a one-timer off the left post and in to give the Huskies the win.
 
Rob McGovern backstopped the Black Bears for much of the evening, finishing with 29 saves, while Cam Brown and Andrew Tegeler both scored for Maine. Ryan Ruck stopped 19 of the 21 shots that he faced as NU outshot Maine 32-21 in the game.
 
Nolan Stevens and Ruck earn monthly honors
Following a month that saw Northeastern go 7-1-1 to enter the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the nation, two Huskies earned Hockey East honors on Wednesday as sophomore Nolan Stevens was named the Warrior Player of the Month and freshman Ryan Ruck earned Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month accolades.
 
Stevens led Hockey East, and was second in the nation, in scoring during February with 15 points (six goals, eight assists). The Sea Isle City, N.J. native ended the month on a season long seven-game point streak, including five multi-point games. Stevens potted three game-winning goals and three power play goals in February, both of which were the most in the nation.
 
Ruck (Coto de Caza, Calif.), meanwhile, posted a 1.57 goals against average and .938 save percentage to backstop Northeastern to a 7-1-1 mark in February. He earned his second shutout of the season with a 16-save performance at Massachusetts, and also posted a career-high 34 stops against Maine last weekend. He allowed two goals or fewer in eight of his nine appearances, and was also named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week and a nominee for the Mike Richter Award in February.
 
Special teams
During Northeastern's recent run of success, its performance on special teams has been the difference. On the power play, the Huskies started the year 11-of-79 (13.9%) in the first 17 games of the season, which ranked 47th in the nation in that span. In the 18 games since, the power play unit is operating at a 31.4% clip (22-of-70), which leads the country.
 
The Huskies have scored a power play goal in eight of the last nine games, including a season-best 4-of-7 performance on Feb. 27 against Maine. Overall, they are ninth in the country with a 22.1% success rate (33-of-149) and they are one of 10 teams with at least 30 power play goals this season.
 
The penalty killing, meanwhile, has responded with some of its best hockey of the year. It allowed 14 power play goals (45-of-59; 76.3%) in the first 17 games, ranked 52nd of 60 teams. Over the last 18 games, though, the PK unit has surrendered 10 goals (49-of-59; 83.1%).
 
The Ruck stops here
Freshman netminder Ryan Ruck made his collegiate debut on Oct. 17 at Bentley, making six saves in relief of Derick Roy in the third period. Ruck arrived at Northeastern after playing for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL for two seasons, posting a 3.17 goals against average and a .903 save percentage in 33 games in 2014-15.
 
Ruck followed that up with a 21 save effort at Minnesota on Oct. 23, including an early candidate for save of the year, which was the No. 2 play on SportsCenter's Top Plays of the night.
 
The rookie has a 2.19 goals against average and .915 save percentage in 31 games this season, and was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on two occasions this season.
 
Over the last 18 games, Ruck is 15-1-2 with a 1.61 goals against average and .935 save percentage. His .889 winning percentage in his last 18 games is the best in the nation in that span, and has allowed two goals or fewer in 15 of his last 16 starts, including two shutouts. His 15 wins are also tied for the seventh most in a single season in team history.
 
Sophomore surge
A pair of sophomores have significantly increased their offensive production in 2015-16, led by Nolan Stevens, who went from a 12-point (three goals, nine assists) freshman campaign to posting 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists) this season. His +23 increase is the fourth largest point improvement from 2014-15 to 2015-16:
 
Classmate Dylan Sikura is also having a big sophomore year with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists), which is good for sixth on the team and a +16 increase from last season.
 
Line 7-8-9
Mike McMurtry has six goals and 14 assists in his last 18 games, including a career-long nine-game point streak from Dec. 6 to Jan. 23. Freshman Adam Gaudette has also been hot of late, and has seven goals and 14 assists in his last 16 games, while linemate Dylan Sikura has points in 11 of his last 14 games (seven goals, six assists).
 
Points from the point
Northeastern has received significant production from its defensemen in the offensive end of the ice so far this season. NU is tied for sixth in the country in goals from defensemen (22) this season.
 
Garret Cockerill leads all blueliners with seven goals this season, and recorded his first career three-point night on Feb. 12 at UMass. It was the first three-point night for a Northeastern defenseman since Matt Benning against Connecticut on Feb. 13, 2015. Should Cockerill score another goal, it would be the most goals in a season for an NU defenseman since Jake Newton scored nine during the 2009-10 season.