BOSTON – The Massachusetts Minutemen had themselves in an ideal position to pull off an upset of #2 seed Northeastern in the opening game of the best-of-three quarterfinals.
Then one bounce changed everything.
With the game tied at 2, UMass holding a significant territorial advantage and on the power play, a timely penalty kill featuring multiple blocked shots for the host Huskies quickly turned into the game winning goal as the man advantage expired.
Patrick Schule, who was serving the penalty, came out of the box and tipped a UMass breakout pass. The puck landed on the stick of Adam Gaudette who quickly fed Dylan Sikura for a one-timer that squeaked over the goal line.
Even with 6:12 remaining, it kind of felt that might be lights out for UMass and its upset hopes. And it was.
Northeastern’s 3-2 victory puts them one win away from the Hockey East semifinals at the TD Garden.
“There’s percentages you focus in on [for penalty killing] but it’s also timely kills,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan. “Tonight was a timely kill. We got the kill and got momentum.
“Patty Schule came out of the box and he made the play of keeping the puck in, heavy on the puck. It allowed Gaudette to come in behind, pick it up and make a nice pass over to Sikura, who one-timed it and got the goalie moving.”
The game was one of near perfection for UMass, which used its speed, a heavy forecheck and a good, physical style to keep Northeastern at bay through spurts while generating plenty of high-quality chances.
But one play will stand out as costly for the Minutemen and it was the one their coach Greg Carvel warned them about. A five-minute major penalty and game misconduct to Jake Gaudet was the only infraction that allowed Northeastern vaunted power play on the ice.
And it led to two Northeastern goals but their offensive studs, Nolan Stevens and Sikura.
“Like everybody told me, ‘Don’t take penalties,’” said Carvel. “That was obviously a focus of ours. Specifically, don’t hit guys [from behind] in the number. We hit a guy in the numbers, get a five-minute penalty and that was the difference.”
Going down 2-0 didn’t exactly phase UMass, nor should it. The Minutement trailed two of their three first round games against Vermont by the same score and both times rallied to tie the game and force overtime.
Friday was no exception.
As soon as the major ended, Austin Albrecht, who served the major for Gaudet, took a lead pass out of the box and fired it high beating Northeastern netminder Cayden Primeau (29 saves), to cut the lead to 2-1.
Early in the third, Brett Boeing finished a feed from Mario Ferraro firing five-hole on Primeau to tie things at 2.
And from there, UMass put significant pressure on the Huskies. That was when Primeau was at his best, stopping first shots and quality rebound opportunities. UMass held a 13-7 shot advantage over the final 20 minutes.
But big time players tend to make big time plays on the biggest stage. That what Sikura did to earn the victory.
Asked after the game if he believes that his team could win on Saturday if they put forth a similar effort, Carvel’s answer in the affirmative carried with in one caveat.
“If we stay out of the penalty box.”
