By Chris Judd, News Staff

The Northeastern men’s hockey team clinched a first round bye in the Hockey East playoffs after this weekend’s games against Maine. The Huskies tied 4-4 on Friday and won 4-3 on Saturday.

Sophomore forward Kevin Roy was the star of the weekend for the Huskies with one goal and five assists.

“These past few games, I had the opportunity to pass the puck more than shoot,” Roy said. “I’m just trying to do anything to help the team, and if it’s to find guys that are open, I’ll do that.”

“When Kevin’s on the ice, he draws a lot of attention,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan. “So, there’s a couple of guys that are always in his face who are sticking him… This weekend, he stepped it up. He knew that we were shorthanded and he knew our guys offensively, defensively, we all needed to pick it up a little more and he took over this weekend. [Friday] he made good plays and [Saturday] he created good looks.”

In Friday’s contest, Maine jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with 19:36 left in the second period.

The Huskies scored their first goal of the game on the power play seven minutes into the frame. Sophomore defenseman Jarrett Fennell passed to sophomore defenseman Colton Saucerman along the blue line. Saucerman sidestepped the defender and fired a slap shot into the upper lefthand corner of the net.

The Huskies thought they tied the game three minutes later when freshman forward Mike Szmatula had a wraparound chance and shot the puck at net. Roy and sophomore forward Mike McMurtry crashed the net and knocked the puck in, but the referee had blown the play dead before the puck crossed the goal-line.

The Huskies scored three seconds later after the resulting faceoff went to Saucerman, who fired a slapshot. Roy redirected the puck, which went in the bottom right corner of the net to tie the game 2-2.

Northeastern got its first lead of the game with 5:36 remaining in the second period. Senior forward Braden Pimm took the puck to the net from the right side of the ice. Maine goaltender Martin Ouellette stopped the puck at the post, but Huskies freshman forward John Stevens came in from behind the red line and knocked the puck in through the five-hole.

The Black Bears tied the game less than two minutes later when freshman Blaine Byron scored.

Maine then broke the tie with 6:03 remaining in the third. After a penalty kill, sophomore Devin Shore came out of the penalty box and beat sophomore defenseman Mike Gunn for a loose puck in the Northeastern zone. He took the puck to the front of the net, and dropped it back to senior forward Mark Anthoine, who beat Northeastern goaltender Clay Witt five-hole.

Pimm tied the game with 1:11 left. Roy kept a play alive at the blue line and passed it deep. Szmatula took the puck to the red line and passed to Pimm at the top of the left circle. Pimm shot it past Ouellette.

Both teams had overtime opportunities, but neither could score and the game ended 4-4.

On Saturday, the Huskies opened the scoring four minutes into the game. Roy had the puck behind the net and passed to freshman forward Zach Aston-Reese in front of the crease. Aston-Reese beat Ouellette in the upper left corner of the net.

Northeastern got its second goal three minutes later when Aston-Reese cycled back towards the blue line along the right board. He threw the puck to the net, where Szmatula knocked the puck in the upper right hand corner

Maine sophomore defender Ben Hutton scored a power-play goal with three minutes left in the period to make it a one goal game.

Maine tied the game three minutes into the second period on a goal from Shore.

Junior forward Torin Snydeman blocked a Maine shot at the point with six minutes left in the game. Junior forward Adam Reid grabbed the puck and had a two-on-one opportunity with Szmatula. Reid’s shot hit the post, but Northeastern drew a penalty.

The Huskies scored on the resulting power play. Saucerman battled three Maine defenders for the puck along the right boards. Roy took the puck and passed to Pimm in front of the crease, who shot into the top left corner to make it a 3-2 game.

Aston-Reese scored his second goal of the game when Roy cycled back along the boards and fired the puck at the net. Ouellette made the initial save, but the rebound went to Aston-Reese, who knocked the puck in the left side of the net to make it 4-2.

Maine made it a one goal game with 2:41 remaining. The Black Bears won a faceoff draw, which made its way back to Hutton. He fired from the top of the left circle and beat Witt.

The Huskies will be back on the ice this weekend for their final two games of the regular season, a home-and-home against Boston University. Puck drop for both games is set for 7 p.m.