BOSTON, Mass. - With the score tied 1-1 entering the third period, sophomore forward Kendall Coyne took the game over with three third period goals to lift the Northeastern women's ice hockey team (3-0-0) to a 4-1 win against Union on Friday night at Matthews Arena.
Coyne netted her second career hat trick as the Huskies outshot the Dutchwomen 45-25, including a 20-8 mark in the second period. The Huskies were 2-of-3 on the power play while Union went 0-of-5. NU also dictated the faceoff circle, winning 35-of-53 draws, led by Casey Pickett's 10-of-11 performance.
The Dutchwomen came out firing in the first period, outshooting the Huskies 10-8 and netting the game's first goal late in the frame. Union benefited from three Northeastern penalties during the frame, and generated four shots on Chloe Desjardins during the man advantage.
Desjardins was solid in goal for the Huskies for the third straight game, making 24 saves in the contest. Union goaltender Alana Marcinko made 41 saves for the Dutchwomen.
Northeastern's best chance of the stanza came at the midway mark of the period when Katie MacSorley stole a puck from behind the Union net and dished to Brittany Esposito in the slot, but the senior forward's shot was blocked to thwart the bid.
The Dutchwomen went up 1-0 with 2:07 left in the period as Camille Corbin stole a breakout bid and passed over to Emma Rambo. Rambo's initial backhand shot was stopped by Desjardins, but Rambo cleaned up her own mess for her second goal of the season.
Northeastern began to take control of the game in the second period, throwing a barrage of shots on Marcinko and scoring a power play goal six minutes into the frame. NU peppered Union with 20 shots in the frame, mostly from in the slot and just above the crease.
Pickett would level the game at one aside with 13:50 left in the period with the Huskies on the power play. Ann Doherty began the play at the left point by firing a quick pass down to Paige Savage on the right wall. Savage then spotted Pickett cutting to the net, and threaded the puck through traffic and onto the stick of the NU captain, who buried it for her second goal of the season.
Desjardins held up her end of the bargain at her end of the ice, stopping all eight Union shots in the period, including three during the Dutchwomen's lone power play of the frame. One came on a sprawling effort from a shot from the point late in the stanza after Maggie DiMasi saved a goal by clearing the puck out of the crease.
Coyne went to work in the third period as the Huskies continued to build momentum, and put NU up 2-1 on its second power play tally of the evening. After Desjardins settled the puck behind the goal, Colleen Murphy skated out and fed Coyne with the puck, who then went coast-to-coast and beat Marcinko five-hole for the score.
Little did Union know, but Coyne was just getting started. She netted her second of night less than five minutes later when she was on the doorstep to gather Maggie Brennolt's shot from the point to beat Marcinko, who could not recover in time. Coyne would complete the trick with 6:21 to go in regulation when she took a feed from Pickett, barreled through the Dutchwomen defense to beat Marinko for her fifth goal of the season.
The Huskies will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as Northeastern welcomes RPI to Matthews Arena at 3 p.m.
Game Notes: Prior to the game, Northeastern raised its 2012 Hockey East Regular Season Championship banner to the Matthews Arena rafters ... Northeastern is now 5-0-0 against Union all-time, and improves to 26-5-2 all-time in home openers ... Desjardins' assist on Coyne's first goal was the first time a NU goaltender recorded a point since Florence Schelling against Princeton on Oct. 22, 2010.