The No. 12 Northeastern men’s hockey team (8-4, 4-3 HE) fell to the No. 18/19 Boston University Terriers (6-7-1, 4-4 HE) Nov. 22 after a comeback chance that forced overtime. This game split the weekend for the rivals after the Huskies defeated the Terriers in Matthews Arena the night before.  

When asked about the two-goal deficit resurgence, head coach Jerry Keefe said, “It shows a lot of character. You can easily be down and out and say it’s not our night and we didn’t do that. That shows the character in the room. Obviously, we’re not happy about the first 40 minutes, but to go out and come back down two goals on the road to get a point, that’s huge.” 

On Saturday, the Huskies were not the team that won the night before. The first two periods were filled with sloppy passes, unwise penalties and weak shots.

Penalties plagued the Huskies as they drew three separate power plays for the Terriers. The first penalty, “too many men on the ice,” was two minutes into the game. Senior defenseman Dylan Finlay was called for tripping, and sophomore defenseman Jack Henry was sent to the sin bin for holding. 

These advantages for BU showed, as the Terriers outshot the Huskies 20 to five at the end of the first period. 

The first goal for the Terriers was on the first power play of the night four minutes into the game, courtesy of junior forward and assistant captain Jack Harvey. With 10 seconds left on the advantage, senior forward Owen McLaughlin received a pass from sophomore defenseman Sascha Boumedienne. McLaughlin then drove the puck from inside the blue line to the inside right of the left faceoff circle before passing to Harvey, who was sitting inside the center of the right faceoff circle and one-timed it into the net. 

BU doubled its lead 13 minutes into the first period. Sophomore defenseman and assistant captain Cole Hutson received a pass from Boumedienne on the Terriers’ side of the ice and took it himself along the left boards before shooting at the side of the net. He collected his own rebound, going behind the net and sliding it in on the other side. 

This was the second time Hutson skated through Northeastern, but before, he was unable to score. 

Northeastern cut the lead with two seconds remaining in the period. Junior defenseman and captain Gavin McCarthy was sent to the box for cross-checking, putting the Huskies on the advantage. 

Within six seconds of having an extra player, freshman forward Jacob Mathieu scored his third goal of the season. 

From inside the right faceoff circle, sophomore forward Joe Connor passed to freshman forward Giacomo Martino at the side of the net. He swiped the puck to Mathieu at the front post, who knocked it in.  

Despite the late goal in the first period, the energy did not transfer into the second. 

Northeastern earned a power play on sophomore forward Brandon Svoboda’s hooking call, but the puck still ended in the Huskies’ own net. Freshman forward Ben Merrill grabbed the puck in the clutter of the BU end of the ice and brought it down into the Huskies’ attacking zone. Above the faceoff circles, he passed to freshman forward Jonathan Morello for a one-time shot into the net. 

“I thought for us to come out of that period 2-1 and score right at the end, get in the locker room and basically say we weren’t very good in that 20 [minutes], but it’s a one goal hockey game now,” Keefe said. “I thought that was going to give us a boost. I actually thought we came out okay in the start of the second period. We get the power play and then give up on it. The power play really hurt us tonight.”

The Huskies were not holding on to the puck or connecting passes. They once again lacked shots, taking 11 to the Terriers’ 33. Northeastern was provided other opportunities for these shots, getting another power play due to sophomore forward Cole Eiserman’s roughing call. 

During this power play, sophomore forward Joe Connor took a big hit and went back into the tunnel. He came back to the bench a few moments later. With Northeastern missing senior defenseman Joaquim Lemay, junior forward Matthew Perkins and star junior goaltender Lawton Zacher, the team cannot afford to have any more players on the injured list. 

Fifteen minutes into the period, freshman forward Matthew Maltais took a hit to the head from freshman defenseman Charlie Trethewey. Trethewey was given a major and a game misconduct, sending him to the tunnel with freshman forward Jay Feldberg taking his place in the box for the five minutes. Maltais was taken to the tunnel for an evaluation but was back on the ice minutes later — not without a dramatic stick hit to the board, breaking it in half. 

With the one-man advantage, the Huskies fought to close the gap, but sophomore goaltender Mikhail Yegorov shut down every opportunity. 

Momentum started to shift in the third period as Northeastern took 11 shots to BU’s 10, the first time the Huskies outshot the Terriers all game. 

When asked what was his message to the team going into the third frame, Keefe said, “‘Let’s go try to make up for the 40 minutes that we didn’t really show up for in the last 20.’”

With seven minutes left in the game, junior forward Dylan Hryckowian claimed Northeastern’s second goal. From behind the net, Matheiu passed to senior defenseman and captain Vinny Borgesi, who slapped a shot in from beyond the right faceoff circle. The puck bounced off Yegorov for Hryckowian to sling in the rebound. 

This goal finally lit the fire under the Huskies that was missing in the previous periods. 

“I just thought we dug in a little bit more,” said Keefe on the team’s performance in the final period. “We were getting the loose pucks more. We were playing more on our toes. Pressured the puck a little bit more. Really kind of simple things.”

With a minute and a half to go, Northeastern pulled sophomore goaltender Quentin Sigurdson for an extra skater. The added man worked, with Hyrckowian knocking another one into the net and tying the game with a minute left. 

Freshman forward Amine Hajibi passed to Borgesi at the blue line to restart a sequence. Borgesi passed to Hryckowian, who was above the right faceoff circle and sent a one-timer into the net. 

The clock winded down to an even scoreboard, forcing the game into overtime.

The extra minutes brought more penalties for both teams. First, Martino was sent to the sin bin for hooking, giving BU a 4-on-3 advantage before Morello’s hooking put the teams at an even 3-on-3. 

With less than a minute left in overtime, Hutson managed a breakaway, winning the race against Hryckowian, who was on his tai,l and netting the puck into the goal for the win. 

The team is back at home to face the Brown University Bears (3-6, 2-4 Eastern College Athletic Conference) Saturday, Nov. 29 at 4 p.m. for senior night.