By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
The playoff hopes of the men’s hockey team went from bad to worse Friday night as they fell 3-2 to the University of New Hampshire (UNH).
UNH junior forward Austin Block scored a pair goals, including the game-winner, as the Wildcats ousted the Huskies and snapped Northeastern’s three-game Hockey East win streak in front of a crowd of 5,141 at the Whittemore Center. The Huskies are winless (0-5-1) in their last six trips to UNH.
“I liked our compete, I liked our effort – we worked hard,” head coach Jim Madigan said following the game. “I thought we were on pucks. [UNH] kept us to the outside a little on our shots, but we were on puck down low and tried to create some offense…They got the win, but something for us to continue working on.”
A win would have boosted the Huskies (11-13-3, 7-12-2 Hockey East) into sole possession of seventh place, but they now fall into a tie for eighth place with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with 16 points apiece after the Minutemen’s 5-4 lost to Providence College’s.
Following their 7-1 Beanpot breakdown to No. 5 Boston College Feb. 6, Madigan said that it was time for the Huskies to focus on winning Hockey East games, starting with UNH.
And for the first 30 seconds of the game, Northeastern appeared to be on the right track as the Huskies took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by junior winger Robbie Vrolyk. Senior center Mike McLaughlin won a gritty faceoff battle in the left circle, pushing the puck to Vrolyk to snap it over the blocker of freshman goaltender Casey Desmith. The goal was the fourth of the season for Vrolyk, all of which have come in his last four games.
But then the Huskies picked up where they left off Monday night.
After dominating possession and puck battles in the offensive zone, junior goalie Chris Rawlings allowed two bad-angle goals to senior winger Stevie Moses and Block, stripping the Huskies of their momentum and sending UNH into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Madigan admitted the goals came on shots that Rawlings would ordinarily save with ease.
“Those are two that [Rawlings would] probably like to have back,” Madigan said. “They found a way in and he knows when he’s playing well and not playing well. I thought he settled down in the second period … Chris settled in and gave us a chance to come back into it. We just fell one [goal] short.”
UNH head coach Dick Umile commended his squad for battling back after the early goal.
“There’s no question – at the beginning of the game [Northeastern was] flying,” Umile said. “I mean, they were breaking out going right by us. We kind of slowed that down after the first seven minutes or so.”
Block added his second of the night and fifth of the season when he deflected a shot from the blue line by senior defenseman Damon Kipp to give the Wildcats a two-goal cushion with 5:21 left in the second.
The third period played out scoreless until Rawlings left the net to give the Huskies a man advantage with 1:40 to play in regulation. After a feed from junior winger Vinny Saponari, McLaughlin shot a goal through DeSmith’s five-hole to make it a one-goal game with 1:12 to go. That was as close as the Huskies got to equalizing.
Despite the loss, the Huskies committed only two penalties and did not allow a power play goal for the first time since a 4-2 win over the University of Vermont Jan. 28. Northeastern blocked 12 shots in front of Rawlings, who stopped 22 of the final 23 shots he faced.
Most impressive, Madigan said, was the third forward line, comprised of Vrolyk, McLaughlin and junior Alex Tuckerman.
“They’ve played well the last few games,” Madigan said. “They’re creating some offense for us. We tried to move some lines with guys out of the line-up. We’re just trying to find the right combinations and we’ll continue to do that.”
The Huskies have six games over the next three weekends to make a push for a playoff spot, but those match-ups come via two-game series against Providence, No. 12 University of Maine and No. 1 Boston University. Five of the contests will be played at Matthews Arena.
The Huskies face Harvard University in the Beanpot consolation game Monday at 4:30 p.m. at TD Garden, which will not affect Hockey East standings.
