After their Friday night shutout by Boston University, the Huskies finally stepped up to the challenge. In the second game of their home-and-home series on Saturday afternoon, Northeastern not only ended with a 2-1 victory, but a spot in the Hockey East playoffs. 

Two of the three goals of the game were scored on the power play, one by each team. Despite their failure to kill a single penalty, both teams are ranked highly in Hockey East for penalty kill percentage. Boston University (13-13-8, 10-9-5 HEA) holds the fourth spot, with 84.2%, while Northeastern (18-13-3, 11-12-1 HEA) leads the conference at 87.4%. 

While BU started the game on a power play, NU was determined to even out the home-and-home. The Huskies stopped them from capitalizing on their advantage, and their only shot on goal during the two minutes was saved by fifth-year senior goaltender Craig Pantano. 

At 7:25, BU junior forward Logan Cockerill faced a penalty for slashing, giving the Huskies their first power play of the game. At 8:08, freshman forward Aidan McDonough scored NU’s first goal of the night, with assists by senior forward Grant Jozefek and senior defenseman Ryan Shea. 

The second period saw no goals from either side, but rather impressive goaltending by each team. During the second, Pantano made 12 of his 29 total saves, while BU graduate goaltender Sam Tucker made 7 of his 24. 

The Huskies headed into the third period determined to clinch a playoff spot. A 00:43 goal by senior forward Matt Filipe gave NU a two-score lead over BU and confidence in their ability to head to the quarterfinals this weekend. Filipe was assisted by Shea and junior forward Zach Solow. 

A 1:18 penalty on sophomore defenseman Julian Kislin gave BU a power play opportunity soon after the second Husky goal. At 3:06, BU senior forward Patrick Harper capitalized on their advantage just before the power play ended. While Harper was able to decrease the Husky lead by one point, the Terriers could not score another point. 

BU tried to put forth all of their offensive power with just under two minutes left in the game, taking Tucker out of the net at 18:16. However, they could not score an overtime goal, and the Huskies finished with a 2-1 win.

With their seventh place spot in Hockey East standings secured, the Huskies will head to the quarterfinals Friday, March 13 at 7 p.m. to begin a best-of-three series against UMass Lowell. If they win, they will head to the semifinals on Friday, March 20.