The River Hawk hockey club couldn't overcome strong goaltending by Northeastern's Chris Rawlings (North Delta, B.C.) as they fell, 3-1, on Saturday night. Senior Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) scored the lone UMass Lowell goal in front of 3,518 fans in the Tsongas Center.
The loss drops the River Hawks to 1-2-2 on the season and 1-2-0 in Hockey East play. The win, the Huskies' first of the season, improves their record to 1-2-2 overall and 1-2-1 in conference action.
Northeastern took control early on, scoring a power play goal at 5:12 into the first period. Brodie Reid (Delta, B.C.) took a shot from the slot and Tyler McNeely redirected the puck high past netminder Marc Boulanger (Olds, Alta.) for the score. The goal was McNeely's first of the season.
UMass Lowell bounced back later in the first however, scoring its own power play goal at 16:27. On a give-and-go with Riley Wetmore (Swanton, Vt.), Edwards snapped a wrist shot at Rawlings. The goaltender made the save, but the rebound came back to Edwards and he made his second attempt count. The goal was Edwards' first of the season and 19th career score on the power play.
Despite a 14-2 shot advantage in the second period, the River Hawks couldn't put another score on the board.
The third period belonged to the Huskies as they netted two goals to seal the outcome. The first came at 11:25 as Luke Eibler (Pinckney, Mich.) missed wide, but the shot hit the boards and came out the other side for an easy score by Steve Silva (Tyngsboro, Mass.).
With the goaltender pulled in favor of an extra skater, McNeely stole the puck from Edwards in the UMass Lowell zone for a free goal with eight seconds left to put Northeastern up by the final score of 3-1.
For the night, Boulanger stopped 23-of-26 shots on goal as he suffered his first career defeat. Rawlings made 39 stops to improve to 1-2-2 on the season.
On the docket next weekend, the River Hawks play in a home-and-home series with Boston University. Northeastern stays put in the Matthews Arena for games against Bentley and Holy Cross.