Hopes were high when the puck dropped in Matthews Arena Friday night. The Huskies have beaten UMass Lowell twice this season already, including a 4-1 win and a 5-4 overtime win, and they have won 9 of 13 games since the most recent meeting. It seemed that this matchup against the River Hawks might be just what the doctor ordered after last weekend’s unfortunate series against Providence. Any hope of victory faded pretty quickly, though, and Lowell left Matthews with a 3-1 win.

Lowell (15-8-2, 9-4-2) outshot Northeastern (15-8-1, 9-6-1) by a slim margin throughout a scoreless first period, and from the moment the clock started in the second it was clear that the River Hawks were ready to score. Forward Kenny Hausinger put Lowell up 1-0 off of a redirection less than 3 minutes into the middle stanza, waking up some desperation on the ice that remained on both sides through the end of regulation.

The scoreboard remained at 1-0 through the middle of the third period, when the Huskies were finally able to make something happen. As a result of a beautifully executed power play, senior forward Brandon Hawkins was able to blast one into the net, tallying his 22nd point of the season. Junior defender Jeremy Davies got the assist.

It seemed like the game was bound for overtime like the last time the two teams met, but with less than 5 minutes left, junior River Hawk forward Ryan Lohin scored off a rebound, to make it 2-1. With less than a minute left in regulation, Northeastern pulled Primeau out of the net to try to tie up the game, but they were unable to stop Lowell freshman forward Reid Stefanson from burying an empty-netter.

The game ended 3-1.

“I could talk about how the effort was there and the energy was good, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to win those games,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “If we want to win we need to make plays at this level. We need to score more goals.”