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BOSTON – The No. 10/9 Northeastern men's hockey team (14-5-3, 10-3-1) received goals from five different scorers and 17 saves from Cayden Primeau to earn a weekend sweep of No. 20 Maine (11-9-2, 5-6-1) on Saturday night at Matthews Arena, 5-3.
 
The win catapults the Huskies into first place in the Hockey East standings with 21 points and 10 league games still to play. It also extends Northeastern's unbeaten streak to nine games (7-0-2), tied for the fifth longest unbeaten streak in program history and the fourth longest active streak in the NCAA.
 
Maine led through 20 minutes thanks to a Mitchell Fossier breakaway goal with 8.4 seconds left in the first after Grant Jozefek and Alexis Binner scored earlier in the frame. From there it was all Huskies, who scored four straight goals, the first from Eric Williams six minutes into the second period before Dylan Sikura potted his 12th of the year one minute later.

Brandon Hawkins extended the Northeastern lead to two with 4:50 left in regulation when the Huskies were awarded a five-minute power play, and captain Nolan Stevens put the game on ice with an empty netter in the final minute of regulation. Nolan Vesey also scored for Maine with less than a minute to play.
 
Jeremy Swayman made 32 saves in goal as the Huskies outshot Maine 37-20 in the game and went 2-of-7 on the power play. The Black Bears were 1-of-3 on the man advantage.
 
Goal descriptions
FIRST GOAL (1-0 Northeastern) – FIRST PERIOD – Grant Jozefek – 5:10
The Huskies drew first blood five minutes into the game on Jozefek's second of the weekend and seventh of the season. With Northeastern controlling the puck in the attacking zone during four-on-four play, Jeremy Davies made his way towards the cage before dishing to Jozefek at the far post. Jozefek then tried to find Matt Filipe crashing the net, but his pass was blocked. As Maine tried to work the puck out of the defensive zone, a Maine forward directed the puck into the goal for the 1-0 Northeastern lead.
 
SECOND GOAL (Tied, 1-1) – FIRST PERIOD – Alexis Binner – 13:40
Maine knotted the game at one with 6:20 left in the opening frame on Binner's first collegiate tally. As the Black Bears moved up ice in transition, Chase Pearson took the puck down the left side before cutting back and dropping for Binner at the point. Binner then fired a low shot through a screen that got past Primeau for the score.
 
THIRD GOAL (2-1 Maine) – FIRST PERIOD – Mitchell Fossier – 19:51.6
Maine took the lead with just 8.4 seconds remaining in the first on Fossier's eighth of the year, poking a Northeastern pass away from the defenseman in the Maine zone before going in alone on Primeau and sneaking a backhand five hole for the 2-1 advantage.
 
FOURTH GOAL (Tied, 2-2) – SECOND PERIOD – Eric Williams – 6:25
Northeastern leveled the score at two apiece six minutes into the second period on Williams' second of the year, collecting a clean face-off win by Zach Solow, taking a couple strides towards the cage and rifling a slap shot top shelf to make it 2-2.
 
FIFTH GOAL (3-2 Northeastern) – SECOND PERIOD – Dylan Sikura – 7:25 (PP)
The Huskies retook the lead 60 seconds later on Sikura's 12th of the season with Northeastern operating on the power play. With Maine in the box for a trip, it took just 16 seconds for NU to convert. After Solow fed the puck down to Sikura for a one-timer that caught the pipe from a tough angle, Adam Gaudette and Nolan Stevens collapsed on the goal as the puck popped back to Sikura. As Gaudette and Stevens got driven into the goal by a pair of Black Bear defenders, that freed up Sikura to tuck home the go-ahead marker from the right side.
 
SIXTH GOAL (4-2 Northeastern) – THIRD PERIOD – Brandon Hawkins – 15:10 (PP)
Northeastern extended the lead to two with 4:50 left in the third period on Hawkins' third of the season. With NU operating on a five-minute power play, Williams worked the puck down low to Hawkins in the left corner. The Black Bears elected to give Hawkins room, and he took the space to fly towards the net and rip a shot five hole.
 
SEVENTH GOAL (5-2 Northeastern) – THIRD PERIOD – Nolan Stevens – 18:57 (EN)
Stevens put the game out of reach with an empty net goal with 63 seconds to play, breaking up a rush in the neutral zone before lifting the puck from the red line into the open goal for his eighth of the year.
 
EIGHTH GOAL (5-3 Northeastern) – THIRD PERIOD – Nolan Vesey – 19:18.9 (EX)
Vesey brought the Black Bears back within two in the final minute of the game when he looped around the attacking zone before firing a shot from the left side past a screened Primeau for his ninth of the year.

Stats of the game
• The Huskies are unbeaten in their last nine games (7-0-2), tied for the fifth longest unbeaten streak in team history. It's also the fourth longest active streak in the NCAA.
 
• Northeastern is now 8-1-0 in their last nine home games and 10-3-0 overall, tied for the second most home victories in the NCAA.
 
• The Huskies have 10 Hockey East victories for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
 
• NU has now defeated Maine seven straight times at Matthews Arena, dating back to 2014.
 
• Sikura moved into sole possession of 27th on Northeastern's all-time scoring list with 122 career points (48 goals, 74 assists), while Gaudette moved into a tie for 31st with 117 points (55 goals, 62 assists).
 
• Gaudette (eight games; nine goals and seven assists), Sikura (four games; three goals, five assists) and Jozefek (four games; two goals and two assists) all extended point streaks on Saturday.

• Dating back to 2013-14, Northeastern is 67-9-4 (.863) when leading after two periods.
 
• The Huskies are 12-2-0 this season when scoring the game's first goal.

 
The road ahead
The Huskies will continue Hockey East play next weekend when Northeastern travels to Massachusetts for a 7 p.m. puck drop at the Mullins Center.