Opportunistic Huskies knock off Black Bears

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BOSTON – Northeastern University’s Huskies were opportunistic Friday night and then they left things in the capable hands of senior goalie Keni Gibson.

Sophomore left wing Joe Santilli scored a pair of goals and Gibson and the Huskies weathered a Maine siege over the final two periods to post a 4-2 Hockey East victory at Matthews Arena.

Gibson finished with 41 saves as Northeastern improved to 4-3-1 overall, 1-0 in Hockey East play.

Maine fell to 6-6 and 2-3, respectively.

Mike Morris, the right wing on a line with Santilli and senior center Jason Guerreiro, had a goal and an assist and Steve Sanders had the other NU goal.

Linemates Derek Damon and Greg Moore scored for Maine. Moore’s goal came on the power play.

Santilli and Morris scored 2:17 apart late in the first period before Sanders and Santilli made it 4-0 by putting the puck behind Maine junior goalie Jimmy Howard 1:47 apart early in the second period.

Howard then was lifted in favor of freshman Matt Lundin, who stopped all 10 shots he faced over the final 34:21.

Damon got one back 8:46 into the middle period but Gibson stopped the 17 other shots the Bears fired at him during the period. Maine was aided by four consecutive NU penalties.

Moore scored early in the third period but Gibson rejected the other 14 shots he encountered over the final 20 minutes.

“I’m very happy. You have to be any time you can beat a great team like Maine,” said Gibson. “I knew they’d come back. I watched them come back against Harvard [from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4] in the NCAA Tournament last year. They never give up. They were hungry for goals and a win.”

“He made some great saves,” said Maine senior center Ben Murphy.

“We were clearly outworked over the first 25 minutes and dug a hole for ourselves we couldn’t come back from,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “What hurt us over the final 35 minutes was we missed the net [too much]. We tried to pick corners instead of putting the puck on net.”

“You can’t spot someone four goals in their barn,” said Murphy. “We didn’t support Jimmy. They played hard and they deserved the win.”

Santilli opened the scoring by alertly driving to the net after Morris had taken a quick snap shot that Howard kicked out with his left pad.

“Mike followed it up and got another shot and I deflected it between Howard’s pads,” said Santilli.

“Nobody picked anybody up. We were all standing around,” said Whitehead.

Morris, a first-round draft pick of San Jose, made it 2-0 when Maine senior defenseman Mat Deschamps turned the puck over in the high slot, allowing Morris an unimpeded path to the net.

Morris made a few head fakes and pulled the puck around Howard left before depositing it into the half-empty net between Howard’s left skate and the post.

In the second period, Murphy had two glittering scoring chances saved by Gibson and, moments later, Sanders wristed the puck toward the Maine net from the top of the left circle and it deflected off Black Bear defenseman Bret Tyler’s stick into the net.

Santilli scored his second goal when he and his linemates sustained a forecheck after Maine sophomore center Mike Hamilton lost the puck while trying to stick-handle out of the zone.

Several shots later, Steve Birnstill’s snap shot from the point was saved by Howard but the rebound deflected over to Santilli.

“My first shot hit the post but the puck came right back to me,” said Santilli, who credited his linemates for his success.

“I just try to stay out of the way,” joked Santilli.

That was all for second-team All-American Howard, who suffered a mild knee injury last Sunday in a 3-0 win over New Hampshire and was replaced by Lundin. Howard finished with 14 saves against the Huskies.

“I have no problem with the way Jimmy played. We didn’t give him any chance to succeed,” said Whitehead.

Damon finally broke through by taking a pass from Mike Lundin, wheeling out of the corner and snapping a wrist shot over the short-side corner while linemate Billy Ryan screened for him.

Maine had a bushel of great chances but the Bears’ inability to finish and Gibson’s goaltending kept them at bay for the rest of the period.

In the third, linemates Ryan, Damon and Moore teamed up on a pretty passing play that saw Ryan drop the puck for Moore, who lifted a backhander into the far corner over Gibson’s blocker.

But the Bears took some penalties later in the game and the Huskies held on.

Maine, which will visit UMass Lowell on Saturday night, outshot Northeastern 43-28.

HUSKIES 4, BLACK BEARS 2

Maine (6-6) 0 1 1 – 2

Northeastern (4-3-1) 2 2 0 – 4

First period – 1. NU, Santilli 1 (Morris, Guerreiro), 16:16; 2. NU, Morris 5 (unassisted), 18:33. Penalties: Maine, Wight, boarding, 10:07; NU, Awe, contact to the head, 13:43

Second period – 3. NU, Sanders 1 (unassisted), 2:41; 4. NU, Santilli 2 (Morris, Birnstill), 4:28; 5. Maine, Damon 7 (Lundin), 7:46. Penalties: NU, Ortiz, elbowing, 6:24; NU, Awe, slashing, 13:04; NU, Morris, interference, 17:04; NU, Mudryk, obstruction hooking, 19:24

Third period – 6. Maine, Moore 7 (Ryan), 6:08 (pp). Penalties: NU, Swiniarski, interference, 5:16; Maine, Hopson, hooking, 10:21; Maine, Murphy, boarding, 10:43; Maine, Deschamps, hooking, 15:30; Maine, Ronan, contact to the head, 19:15

Shots on goal: Maine 10-18-15-43; NU 12-10-6-28

Goaltenders: Maine, Howard (18 shots-14 saves), Ma. Lundin (4:28 of 2nd, 10-10); NU, Gibson (43-41)

Power-play Opportunities: Maine 1 of 6; NU 0 of 4

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 10-20-17-47; NU 10-9-7-26

Attendance: 2,849