ORONO — Maine let a red-hot Northeastern men’s hockey team get loose early and couldn’t catch up in a 6-4 loss at Alfond Arena.
The Huskies are now 8-0-1 in their past nine games
Maine (12-18-3, 7-10-2 Hockey East) fell apart at the outset. Northeastern defenseman Colton Saucerman scored a power-play goal 1:50 into the game, grabbing a rebound of a Matt Benning shot to the left of the crease and having plenty of time to push it into the half-empty net.
Brendan Collier took a centering pass from Trevor Owens a minute later and stuffed it past Black Bear goaltender Matt Morris at close range for a 2-0 Huskies lead.
Dylan Sikura’s wrist shot from the slot whistled past Morris for a 3-0 lead at 10:41 and prompted Maine Coach Red Gendron to use his timeout.
It didn’t help.
Zach Aston-Reese ended Morris’ outing when he chipped in a rebound at 16:26 of the period to build a 4-0 lead for Northeastern (15-11-4, 10-7-2). Sean Romeo replaced Morris in goal.
Connor Leen put Maine on the board at 7:36 of the second period after Blaine Byron collected a Northeastern turnover behind the net and sent the puck to him in the slot. Leen’s one-timer went in off of Huskies goaltender Clay Witt.
Romeo made a series of outstanding saves, but was ultimately let down by his defense. Mike Szmatula was left alone in front of the crease, took a pass from Nolan Stevens and beat Romeo for a 5-1 lead at 18:44 of the period.
Maine cut the lead to 5-2 at 6:23 of the third period when Ben Hutton strode in from the blue line and teed up a loose puck, blasting it high past Witt for his seventh goal of the season.
Sikura answered for Northeastern 36 seconds later, picking up a pUck in the slot and lifting it off the crossbar and down into the net for a 6-2 lead.
Cedric Lacroix tipped in a rebound at 14:03 of the third to pull the Black Bears within 6-3.
Gendron pulled Morris in the final 2 minutes and Maine capitalized when Brian Morgan deflected in a Dan Renouf shot at 18:37.
The teams meet again here at 7 p.m. Saturday, which will be Senior Night for the Black Bears.
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