By Jill Saftel, News Staff
Lost leads and missed opportunities left the Northeastern men’s hockey team down and out last weekend in a home-and-home series with then-No. 15 University of Massachusetts-Lowell, from which the Huskies took a single Hockey East point. Friday’s matchup at Matthews Arena ended in a 4-4 draw, while the River Hawks finished it out on their home ice in a 5-4 overtime heartbreaker for the Huskies.
In both games, Northeastern gave up leads, squashing any hope of pulling two points from each game. Those points are needed for the Huskies to begin their climb from the bottom of the rankings for a spot in the Hockey East playoffs.
“I’m disappointed we gave up a two-goal lead,” head coach Jim Madigan said following Friday’s tie, which ended a nine-game win streak for Lowell. “Even when we went 4-3 I thought we were playing well, playing smart. I don’t like the fact that we gave up two points at home, but I like the effort. We got a point.”
It’s now a basement battle for the last few spots in the Hockey East playoffs. Even though a good chunk of the season remains (10 conference games for the Huskies), the top half of the pack has pulled away. The bottom four teams, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Vermont, Northeastern and University of Maine only have a three-point spread. UMass sits seventh with 13 points and Maine is last with 10, Vermont and Northeastern make up eighth and ninth with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
For reference, the six teams that make up the top half only have a five-point disparity, but the range is from 23 points (Boston College) to 18 points (Merrimack College and Lowell), leaving five points between the two teams tied for fifth place and UMass in seventh. If it wasn’t the case before the Lowell weekend, every point is crucial to Northeastern’s postseason hopes.
If there was a silver lining on the weekend, senior forward Steve Morra notched his first career goal Friday, and followed it up with his second Saturday night. With an assist added to Saturday, it was his first multi-point game.
“It’s good to get the monkey off my back, but it would have been a lot better if we won,” Morra said Friday.
Morra has been getting consistent playing time with junior forwards Cody Ferriero and Braden Pimm, a line that has been clicking as of late.
“I think it’s chemistry – we actually live together,” Morra said. “We know where everyone is and just kind of play the system, just feed off each other.”
Offensively, the Huskies aren’t having trouble – at least not through the first 40 minutes of games. They scored three goals in the first two periods of each of their last two games. Allowing their opponent to rally is where Northeastern has struggled. It was evident against Lowell, but going back even further to their Jan. 18 game at Agganis Arena against Boston University when the team allowed the Terriers to come back from a 5-2 deficit and tie it up.
“We’ve got to get better and have more composure later in games,” Madigan said.
Injuries are also plaguing the team, leaving the defense depleted and mostly inexperienced. Senior defenseman Drew Ellement suffered a lower body injury during the first period of Lowell’s game, and after returning to the ice for one shift did not return for the extent of the game. That left three sophomores and two freshmen to man Northeastern’s defensive zone. The senior will be out for four to six weeks.
Freshman defenseman Dustin Darou was still out as of Saturday’s game with a lower body injury, while sophomore forward Ludwig Karlsson was out with an upper body injury, forcing Madigan to shuffle lines and make adjustments.
Another change Madigan decided on for the Lowell series was which of his goaltenders would be between the pipes, choosing senior Bryan Mountain over usual starter senior Chris Rawlings.
Mountain made 41 saves in Friday’s tie and 33 saves in Saturday’s loss, but neither goaltender has been able to claim the starting spot consistently, and Madigan said the goaltenders would still go game-to-game without a set rotation.
“I just thought it was the time for a change for the team,” Madigan said with respect to the goaltender change. “It had nothing to do with Chris Rawlings, we just hadn’t been playing very well defensively in the past couple games and I thought it was a good time for the change for the team.”
The Huskies return to the ice for a one-game weekend against No. 3 University of New Hampshire at Matthews Arena tomorrow.
“We’ve got to find a way to close out a game and get the win,” Madigan said.
