NORTHEASTERN DEFEATED BY BENTLEY, 2-1

Junior forward Mike McLaughlin scored a goal for the Huskies

Junior Mike McLaughlin tallied game's first goal at 6:25 of the third period, but Bentley battled back and potted a pair to upend Northeastern, 2-1, on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.

Saturday marked the third-consecutive season the Huskies and the Falcons have met on the ice. The 2-1 victory for Bentley was the school's first-ever triumph over Northeastern. The Huskies slip to 1-4-2 on the season while Bentley claimed its first victory of 2010-11, upping its mark to 1-3-1.

Rookie netminder Clay Witt made his collegiate debut for the Huskies, turning in a strong performance of 32 stops on the evening. His Bentley counterpart, Joe Calvi, made 34 saves on the night. The Huskies narrowly outshot Bentley, 35-34.

The first period did not give way to any scoring, but there were plenty of power play opportunities. Bentley was granted three opportunities while Northeastern had one extra-man opportunity.

Rookie Anthony Bitetto's roughing call at 5:16 was killed off by the Huskies' killing unit before Micah Williams took a seat for a slash at 13:17. Northeastern was not able to take advantage and six seconds after the power play, freshman Jamie Oleksiak was cited for a trip at 15:23. Senior Tyler McNeely posed the strongest threat after stripping the puck from Bentley's offense at the point. McNeely carved out a nice move but shot the puck right into Calvi's chest.

Senior Mike Hewkin put Northeastern in the hole with a holding call 34 seconds into the second period, but Northeastern’s man-down team kept Bentley's chances to a minimum.

Aaron Stonacek took a slashing call at 5:31 of the second stanza, but Bentley ripped the puck of rookie Luke Eibler from the top of the zone. Bentley's originial shot on the breakaway pulled Witt out of position, giving way to a wide-open look on the near side. Witt was able to gather himself and rob the Falcons of an easy tip-in by making a fantastic save from the ice to keep BU off the board.

Northeastern was bestowed with an extra skater right out of the chute to start the third after Bentley incurred a too many men infraction to close out the second period. The Huskies tacked on a couple more shots to their power play chances through the first 42 minutes of regulation.

Immediately as Jeremy Robert exited the box for the infraction, Justin Breton created a breakaway on Witt. Witt stood his territory and denied Breton to keep the game scoreless.

A few exchages after, a Zach Marginsky boarding call (3:01) and a Micah Williams slashing penalty (4:28) gave the Huskies 34 seconds of a 5-on-3 window. The Falcons were able to kill off Marginsky's call, but the Huskies finally pounced at the 6:25 mark of the third stanza to break the scoreless standoff.

Oleksiak won a battle along the near boards and was able to scoot the puck out to sophomore Drew Daniels in stride towards the net. Instead of testing Calvi, D. Daniels dropped the puck off for a trailing McLaughlin in the slot. McLaughlin took a wide-open wrister and smoked it by Calvi for his first power play goal of the season.

A minute and half later, Erik Peterson negated NU's strike at 8:07 on a pair of passes from Joe Campanelli and Dan Koudys. Koudys won a battle in the corner and shuffled the puck over to Campanelli who then quickly connected with Peterson in the slot for the 1-1 equalizer.

Bentley's game-winner at 10:42 came in a disorderly fashion. Sophomore Drew Ellement was trying to protect his goaltender from coming under attack in the crease, but instead, shoved Brett Gensler in the back and was charged with a cross checking penalty at 10:42. As that act transpired, Dustin Cloutier shot the puck from the slot and Gensler's momentum was able to carry to puck through to the back of the net to stands the game's final marker.

Northeastern caps its three-game non-conference spell with a solo tilt against Niagara next Friday night, Nov. 5 at Matthews Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

To view a replay of tonight's game, visit GoNU.TV.

Game Notes

- Clay Witt earned his first-career start in net against Bentley University. The last goaltender to start in net since Chris Rawlings was Bryan Mountain. Mountain started in three contests last season with the most recent outing coming in a 4-1 loss against Massachusetts on Jan. 10, 2010

- Jamie Oleksiak (1-1-2) registered his first-career assist against Bentley