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LOWELL, Mass. – Adam Gaudette's natural hat trick and 23 stops from Ryan Ruck set the tone for the No. 20 Northeastern men's hockey team (3-2-0, 1-0-0) which opened Hockey East play with a 3-1 victory at No. 17 UMass Lowell (3-4-0, 0-3-0) on Friday night at Tsongas Center.
 
With the win, Fernie Flaman Men's Hockey Coach Jim Madigan notched career win No. 100, becoming the fifth coach in program history to reach the century mark. It also gives the Huskies a win in their Hockey East opener for the first time since 2012.
 
Gaudette opened the scoring with a power play strike less than five minutes into the game before adding a second tally on the man advantage two minutes into the middle frame. Gaudette then put Northeastern up by three with his first career hat trick with five seconds remaining in the middle frame.
 
Jeremy Davies (three assists) and Dylan Sikura (two assists) set the table for Gaudette, who became the first Husky with a natural hat trick since Sikura on Jan. 27, 2017, also at UMass Lowell.
 
Ruck was steady in goal from start to finish, steering aside 23-of-24 shots, including 15 in the final 40 minutes and eight on the penalty kill as the River Hawks constantly pressured the attacking zone. The NU power play went 2-of-3 on the night while the penalty killing unit was a perfect 4-of-4.
 
Goal descriptions
• Northeastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game when the Huskies converted on its opening power play chance of the game. After Gaudette drew an interference call on Ryan Lohin, Northeastern moved the puck around the attacking zone before it landed on the stick of Cockerill at the point. Cockerill then faked a pass to Sikura before firing a low shot on goal that Hernberg stopped, but Gaudette was waiting on the doorstep to deposit his third goal of the season.
 
• Gaudette struck again just two minutes into the second period with his second of the night. Just as a Northeastern power play was expiring, Sikura fed the puck up to Davies streaking up the left side. Davies corralled the puck and entered the attacking zone before saucering a perfect pass right on to the stick of Gaudette for the tap in and 2-0 advantage.
 
• Gaudette completed the hat trick with five seconds remaining in the second period as the Huskies attacked late, with Sikura ripping a shot on goal from the left side that went off the pad of Hernberg and right out to Gaudette, who hammered it home.
 
• UMass Lowell got one back with 12:29 to play in regulation on Sodergren's first collegiate tally. As the River Hawks made their way across the blue line, Ryan Dmowski's initial bid was blocked by a Husky defenseman, but the loose puck popped out to Sodergren in the left dot, who flung one of his back foot past Ruck to make it 3-1.
 
Stats of the game
• Northeastern is now 45-60-10 all-time against UMass Lowell, and gives the Huskies a win in their Hockey East opener for the first time since the 2012-13 season.

• The win gave Madigan 100 career victories, becoming the fifth coach in program history to reach the mark.

• It marks the first time since the 2010-11 season that Northeastern has won back-to-back road games against the River Hawks.
 
• Gaudette's two power play goals were the 23rd and 24th of his career, which leads all active players in the NCAA.
 
• Gaudette's hat trick was the first of his career, and the first natural hat trick since Sikura scored three times in the third period at UMass Lowell on Jan. 27, 2017.
 
• Sikura is the only player in college hockey since 2012-13 to log multi-point efforts in each of his team's first six games. He has a point in each of his first six games, becoming the first Husky since the 2013-14 season (Braden Pimm, Kevin Roy, Mike Szmatula) to accomplish the feat.

• Sikura moved into a tie for 46th on Northeastern's all-time scoring list with 106 points.
 
• Davies has an assist in each of his last three games (seven assists), tying a career-long point streak.

• Friday marked the first time that Northeastern has won a game when taking fewer than 20 shots since Jan. 17, 2014 vs. Vermont (19 shots).
 
The road ahead
• The teams will meet again in the weekend finale tomorrow night at Matthews Arena at 7 p.m. Tickets to the game, and all home games at Matthews, are available by visiting GoNU.com/tickets.