STORRS, Conn. — Fueled by a 36-save performance from senior netminder
Lawton Zacher, the No. 19/20 Northeastern men's hockey team toppled the UConn Huskies, 4-0, on Friday night at the Toscano Family Ice Forum.
Northeastern (5-2-0, 2-2-0 HEA) took the lead early and held it for the rest of the contest for their third straight win and its first over the Connecticut-based Huskies (4-6-1, 2-3-1 HEA) in six contests.
Sophomore
Giacomo Martino tallied a goal and an assist and freshman
Dawson Sharkey, junior
Joe Connor and sophomore
Jack Pechar all potted goals as well. Sophomore
Miguel Marques and senior
Tyler Fukakusa each added an assist, pushing their season-long points streaks to seven games each.
Martino was the first to get on the scoresheet, as a bouncing puck off a
Jacob Mathieu shot landed on his stick. From a tight angle, he hit twine to put Northeastern up 1-0 4:43 into the first.
Sharkey joined Martino with a first-period tally at 11:15. After a power play ended, he picked up a rebound off
Miguel Marques' shot. Sharkey was denied on his first attempt, but as UConn goaltender Veeti Louhivaara (27 saves) reached out to poke the puck, Sharkey speared the puck past Louhivaara and double the Huskies' lead.
The Huskies would not add until the second half of the second period, when a broken play in the right corner of the offensive zone led to Martino flinging the puck toward the slot, where Connor was waiting to fire it home. With 1:30 remaining in the second, senior
Andy Moore kept a defenseman on his back as he drove to the left side of the cage with the puck, then perfectly placed a cross-crease pass for Pechar to tuck into the net, giving Northeastern a 4-0 lead entering the third.
UConn would get on the board with 3:44 remaining, potting a power-play goal to break the shutout.
Martino's two-point effort was his fourth multi-point outing in five games and third consecutive multi-point game.
Northeastern will make the short trip from Storrs to Hartford, Connecticut, for the conclusion of the weekend series with UConn on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. at the PeoplesBank Arena.
