Boston, Mass. - Northeastern got a goal and an assist from Greg Costa and Dennis McCauley scored but No. 13 Maine did one better and topped the Huskies, 3-2, on Friday night at Matthews Arena. Northeastern led, 2-1, in the second period but a power-play goal by Keenan Hopson and a score by Tanner House just as a power play expired gave the Black Bears the victory.
Northeastern dropped to 1-2-0 overall and 1-1-0 in Hockey East in the young season while Maine improved to 3-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in Hockey East. The teams rematch on Saturday to conclude the weekend series at Matthews Arena.
McCauley scored the first goal of the game 7:07 in the first period. McCauley and linemates Costa and Randy Guzior were on a rush. Guzior passed the puck to Costa and Costa set up McCauley, who was wide open in the slot and McCauley buried it for his first goal of the season.
Maine evened the score at 1-1 at 12:32 in the first. Bret Tyler took a high shot from the point and Jeff Marshall deflected it down past Thiessen. Wes Clark also got an assist on the play.
Tyler took an obstruction-interference penalty at 19:45 in the first period, which gave the Huskies an advantage to open the second. They wasted no time as Costa scored to make it 2-1 just 18 seconds into the second period. A Maine player tried to clear the puck from behind the net around the boards but NU's Jimmy Russo kept it in play from the blue line. Russo took a hard shot from the point and Costa deflected it to the right side of the net past Maine goalie Ben Bishop.
Northeastern had two more great scoring chances in the second period but couldn't net a third goal. Freshman Wade MacLeod was open and got the puck at the corner of the crease but his shot went off the post and deflected high. A few minutes later, Joe Vitale had a short-handed breakaway and took a hard shot but Bishop deflected it high and off the crossbar.
Hopson's power-play goal came at 9:00 in the second period. With Guzior in the penalty box for hooking, Northeastern won a faceoff in the defensive zone. An errant pass resulted in a turnover right in front of the net and Hopson buried it to make it 2-2.
House scored the game-winner at 9:35 in the third period when he put in the rebound of a shot by Clark.
The Saturday's game between the Huskies and Black Bears begins at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena. The game will be broadcast live on WRBB Radio and will have live audio and video on GoNU.TV. The game will not be on 890 ESPN Boston due to the World Series broadcast.