Northeastern, UMass skate to a draw

AMHERST – Wade MacLeod scored two goals, but it wasn’t enough for Northeastern to come away with the win, as the Huskies tied UMass, 2-2, at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. 
“From a coaching perspective, it was a really interesting game because of what took place last night at Northeastern,” said UMass head coach Don Cahoon. “It was a really pivotal game for us emotionally to be able to hang in there. We would have liked a better result.”
The Huskies blanked the Minutemen, 3-0, in the first game of this home-and-home weekend series on Friday night in Boston. In Saturday night’s game, UMass (6-13-5, 5-8-5 HEA) outshot the Huskies, 41-32, but couldn’t come away with the win.
“Tonight for the first time against this team, [we] went toe to toe,” Cahoon said. “Both of these teams have proven to be strong finishing games.”
Northeastern (8-10-7, 7-7-6 HEA) jumped on the board first when Wade MacLeod’s scored 33 seconds into the opening period. The Huskies’ lead didn’t last long, as UMass’ Chase Langeraap scored 1:49 into the game, tying the game 1-1. Michael Pereira put the Minutemen on top, 2-1, with his goal 3:26 in, and that lead would hold through the end of the period.
“I thought UMass would come out and play extremely determined and desperate in the first period, and I warned our guys about that,” said Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin. “I think they got tricked by the first goal we got so early.”
MacLeod tallied again, this time with 3:01 elapsed in the second period, to tie the game at two. Neither team could put the puck in the net for the remaining 17 minutes, leading to a 2-2 tie heading into the final period.
“I thought we kind of played Northeastern hockey in the second [period], and the third period looked like a chess match,” said Cronin.
The Huskies outshot the Minutemen, 6-5, in the third period, but neither team was able to put the puck in the net, forcing overtime. UMass registered eight shots in the extra period, compared to three for Northeastern, but neither team could pot the game-winning goal.
“The overtime [featured] an aggressive, offensively minded UMass team I think who controlled the play,” Cronin said. “I told our guys we were lucky to get out of here with a point.”
Paul Dainton had 30 saves on 32 shots for UMass while Chris Rawlings recorded 39 saves on 41 shots for Northeastern. The Minutemen had eight penalties for 16 minutes and the Huskies were assessed 10 penalties for 20 minutes. Neither team had any success in the power play, with the Minutemen going 0-for-7 and the Huskies going 0-for-5.
Massachusetts faces No. 2 Boston College at Conte Forum in its next game on February 4th. Northeastern returns to action on February 4th when it hosts Hockey East rival Merrimack.
Gethin Coolbaugh is a correspondent for Something’s Bruin. He can be reached at 774-279-1995 or at gethin.coolbaugh@yahoo.com. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on Twitter.