Northeastern is nearly two months ahead of last season's pace in the wins column. The No. 16 Huskies have won six games, a feat they didn't accomplish last season until Jan. 26.
The Huskies (6-4-1, 6-3-1 Hockey East) beat No. 19 Boston College (3-4-5, 2-3-4 Hockey East) in overtime Friday night, padding their conference lead to three points. Senior Jimmy Russo scored his first goal of the season with four seconds remaining in the extra period. It was the second overtime goal of his career.
So far in the season, however, Russo's younger teammates are outplaying him. Standout junior forward Joe Vitale has a team-leading 13 points on the season (five goals, eight assists), all of which came in Hockey East play.
Along with Vitale, freshman forward Tyler McNeely has a share of the team lead with five goals. McNeely is tied with three other Huskies for third on the team in points with seven (five goals, two assists).
The Eagles are 1-2-3 at home and have not won since Oct. 26 against Merrimack (6-6-1, 3-6-1 Hockey East).
The win gives Northeastern its first six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) since it had the same record during the stretch of Jan. 6-25 in 2002. The Huskies need either a win or a tie in their next three games to match the team's longest unbeaten streak (8-0-1 in 1985-86) since the conference's inception in 1984.
Friday night's victory was NU's second overtime win of the season. Northeastern is 5-1-5 in its last 11 overtime games. Opposing teams scored first in nine of the Huskies' 11 games this year, although NU is 6-3-0 in that situation.
The Huskies have also been effective on the penalty kill this season. NU is second in the league with an 87.5 penalty-kill percentage.
Stumping statistics
There is an odd trend in the Hockey East stat sheet. The team with the player leading the conference in goals, points or assists is in the lower end of the standings.
Senior forward Bryan Ewing of Boston University (4-7-2, 3-3-1 Hockey East) leads the conference in points scored with 16 (six goals, 10 assists). However, BU is eighth in conference standings. BU's inability to break a tie after the second period has been its downfall. The Terriers are 0-3-1 when deadlocked going into the final frame.
Three of the four games went into overtime, except for a loss to No. 6 New Hampshire (7-2-1, 4-2-1 Hockey East) in which the Wildcats blew past the Terriers with three scores in the third period.
Sophomore forward Matt Jones of Merrimack (6-6-1, 3-6-1 Hockey East) is the top scorer in Hockey East with nine goals on the season. Yet the Warriors are ninth in the conference behind the Terriers. This year's Merrimack squad demonstrates no ability to pull out a come-from-behind victory. The Warriors are 0-6-1 when trailing after the second period.
BC's Joe Whitney has a conference-leading 12 assists this season but the Eagles are only sixth in the conference. The only reason BC is so high in the conference is because of four ties. With one more tie, the Eagles would equal their combined in-conference wins and losses total.
Back to basics
In Friday night's loss to the Huskies, BC played in its sixth overtime of the season, half of the number of games its played this season. The Eagles are 0-4-2 this season when games are decided in extra frames. The standings don't show how sound BC is in executing the fundamentals of hockey.
Against Northeastern, two of the Eagle's three goals came on power plays. BC's 25 percent efficiency on the man advantage ranks second in the conference and tied for third in the nation. The Eagles have scored at least one power-play goal in 10 of their 12 games this season.
Four of the team's power-play goals were scored by sophomore forward Ben Smith. Smith is second on the team with 13 points scored, including a team-leading six goals. Smith is tied with Whitney for first in the conference with eight power-play points. Smith and Whitney are two of the four Eagles sitting atop the conference in this category.
BC freshmen are demonstrating equal proficiency in basic principles of the game as well. Whitney recorded his team-leading 12th assist of the season Friday night; Whitney is also tied for first in the nation in assists per game, with 1.00. Whitney's 1.25 points per game ranks him third nationally among all rookies.
Cat scratch fever
Vermont (3-5-2, 3-2-2 Hockey East) boasts a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1), in which UVM tallied 14 scores. The last time the Catamounts accomplished this feat during a three-game unbeaten streak was in 2004. Two different lines have totals of 20 points or more for Vermont this season.
Along with sophomore forward Colin Vock, junior frontliners Dean Strong and Corey Carlson have a combined 26 points when the trio are on the same line.
Sophomore forwards Brayden Irwin and Viktor Stalberg, alongside junior forward Peter Lenes, have totaled 23 points as a line.
Together, these two lines account for 72 percent of UVM's point total on the season.
Statistically, no single Catamount ranks higher than 11th in any of the three major scoring categories - points, goals or assists - but UVM manages to stay among the conference's best because of consistent team play. While Lenes leads the team in goals (four) and points (nine), Strong narrowly leads the team in assists, with seven. The Catamounts know how to spread the puck around as well. Five UVM skaters have at least five assists this season.
Odds favor Vermont when the Catamounts are ahead after two periods. UVM is undefeated in that scenario (3-0-1) this season … Providence (3-6-2, 3-3-2 Hockey East) junior forward Pierce Norton is on a five-game point streak (five goals, two assists) … UMass Lowell (4-3-4, 2-3-4 Hockey East) handed Providence its first shutout of the season, beating the Warriors 3-0 … Merrimack has outscored its opponents 13-6 in the third period this season … The BC penalty kill allowed two goals against Northeastern last weekend, the first time this season for the Eagles … Terrier senior forward Pete MacArthur became the 56th player in BU history to net his 50th goal. The milestone came in the form of a game-winner on Saturday against Cornell … Maine (4-6-2, 2-4-2 Hockey East) netted a season-high five goals Sunday against Vermont on Sunday … Riverhawk junior forward Mark Roebothan achieved his first career hat trick in UML's 6-2 win over Merrimack on Saturday.
Mike Gillmeister can be reached at mgillmei@student.umass.edu.
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