Calling it close

Senior winger John Henrion kept up his good efforts recently in a big way Friday night, breaking a deadlock with 52 seconds remaining to push the No. 11 University of New Hampshire Wildcats past the upset-minded No. 15 Northeastern Huskies at the Whittemore Center.

Henrion’s goal when the winger was able to break during a scramble for the puck in front of Northeastern’s senior goaltender, Bryan Mountain, and put one in the net as the final period of regulation came to a close.

The game-winning goal came after a back-and-forth third period, which saw New Hampshire come out strong only to start the third only to find the Huskies regain their composure and rally late after being outshot by the Wildcats.

This was a shift from the second period, which was all UNH as the team fought back from a two-goal first period deficit to notch things up 3-3.

Junior forward Kevin Goumas scored the game-tying goal with 13:20 left in the second period, getting an assist from senior and alternate captain Greg Burke.

Goumas’s goal marked the end of the night for Northeastern senior Chris Rawlings, who started the night in net for the Huskies but allowed from Goumas and senior Austin Block – who notched a power play goal 2:51 into the second period after being setup by  within Goumas and junior defenseman Justin Agosta – within the first 6:40 of the second period.

It was a complete shift from what New Hampshire saw in the first period, when the Wildcats saw a physical Huskies squad take a two-goal lead after NU defenseman Ben Oskroba put one past UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith 11:45 into the first period.

Oskroba’s goal joined goals from sophomore Joseph Manno – who scored 20 seconds after UNH sophomore defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk scored a power play goal for the Wildcats to tie the game up – as well as junior Braden Pimm, who scored just 33 seconds into the game to give NU an early lead.

With the win New Hampshire finds itself undefeated still at 4-0-0 overall, 2-0-0 in Hockey East. The loss drops Northeastern down to 2-2-0 on the season as well as in Hockey East.

The two teams will finish off their home-and-home series on Saturday, as New Hampshire travels up Matthews Arena in Boston, Mass. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.