A shaking Matthews Arena, packed with a sold-out crowd of 5,407 screaming fans, was the place for any Husky fan to be Saturday night.

Even Boston College men’s hockey head coach Jerry York couldn’t complain.

“It was great to see the crowd, it gives us a whole other venue that will be good for Hockey East and good for hockey in Boston,” York said. “A sold-out crowd and a terrific environment to play in.”

The Huskies, feeding off the intense home-opener crowd, beat the defending National Champions and No. 1 ranked BC, 4-3, in a fast-paced Hockey East matchup.

The Huskies are now 3-0-1 and undefeated in conference play at 2-0.

“I think [the fan support] was really important to us,” said junior goaltender Brad Thiessen. “Before the season started, everyone talked about how we needed to take the next step, and tonight was a night we needed to have with all the fans behind us.”

From the moment the teams took the ice, the intensity level was high, as was the tension between the rivals. Northeastern was a man up five minutes in, but sophomore forward Steve Silva took a penalty midway though to prevent a potential BC breakaway.

The Eagles (2-1, 0-1 Hockey East) capitalized on the power play and netted the first goal of the game from the blue line.

But the Huskies barely let BC blink and nine seconds later gave the crowd reason to cheer. Senior forward Dennis McCauley responded for the Huskies, tipping one past BC’s netminder from the left of the crease, tying the game at one.

With the momentum already tipped in Northeastern’s favor, BC took a penalty two minutes later for boarding. Just 17 seconds into NU’s power play, the whistle blew again and another BC player was sent to the box.

Husky fans were not kept waiting long. The goal light went off seven seconds in to the 5-on-3 as senior captain Joe Vitale sent one flying from the right side just outside the crease. The puck hit BC goalie John Muse and deflected into the net.

Northeastern controlled the puck on the offense well, but the momentum began to shift toward the Eagles heading into the last three minutes. After a few strong shots, BC got past Thiessen with a wrap-around move 42 seconds before the period ended. The teams went into the locker room tied at two.

Sophomore forward Steve Silva and senior defenseman Denis Chisholm left the ice due to injury during the first period. Neither player returned to the bench and no information about the nature or seriousness of their injuries was available as of press time.

“I have to give credit to our five d-men