Kevin Roy doesn’t purposely ignore the words of Northeastern coach Jim Madigan during games, but the senior captain’s selective hearing on Saturday night helped send these Huskies to a new high.
Madigan was calling for a line change during overtime at Matthews Arena, but Roy didn’t catch it and stayed on the ice. Good thing, because seconds later Roy intercepted a Maine pass in front of the Black Bears goal and flipped the puck past goaltender Rob McGovern with 6:15 left in the extra session, capping Northeastern’s 4-3 win and a first-round playoff sweep.
The victory, NU’s ninth straight, sends the Huskies (18-13-5) to the Hockey East quarterfinals at Notre Dame next weekend, also a best-of-three format. It’s the first time since 2011 that the Huskies have won a postseason series.
They have now, thanks to Roy’s unassisted goal.
“We had a good forecheck and we forced their defensemen to make mistakes. That’s what happened there. They just threw it up the middle and I was waiting,’’ said Roy, who scored two goals in his final game at Matthews Arena, including the game-winner on his last shot. “I tried to get it on net, tried to get a shot up, and it ended up going in the right way. I’ll take it.’’
It wasn’t easy. Maine, playing with the desperation that comes with a season’s possible end, erased an early 3-0 deficit by scoring once in the second period, then twice in the third. Cedric Lacroix drew the Black Bears within a goal after he deposited a nice crossing pass from Andrew Tegeler with 15:20 remaining in the third.
Maine tied it four minutes later on the first career goal from freshman defenseman Keith Muehlbauer, who had no points while appearing in 23 previous games. Nice time to finally break through.
One night after spotting Maine a 2-0 first-period lead and scoring the final three goals of a 3-2 overtime victory, the Huskies scored the first three goals this time, taking control late in the first period. No slow start, and no first-period hole.
Eric Williams opened the scoring with 5:09 left in the first period, ripping a shot from just inside the blue line. It was the seventh goal of the season for Williams, a freshman from Ontario, and tied him for the team lead among defensemen.
Not 90 seconds later, NU made it 2-0 on another shot from near the blue line. This came from Garret Cockerill, and his shot was tipped in by Nolan Stevens, who was standing to McGovern’s left just outside the crease. Stevens was all alone, though, and redirected Cockerill’s shot just enough for his team-leading 17th goal.
The man with the microphone at Matthews Arena had hardly finished announcing Stevens’s goal when the Huskies scored again to take a 3-0 lead. Roy, coming in hard from McGovern’s right behind the net, skated all the way around and slid the puck past the Maine goaltender on the stick side. It marked the seventh goal of the season for Roy, all coming in the past eight games, and came with 3:03 left in the first period.
Roy’s eighth goal of the season ended it. Overtime games in the Hockey East playoffs have become the norm for NU. The Huskies lost both overtime games a year ago to Merrimack, and needed the extra session both nights against Maine (8-24-6).
“We needed to get over this hump,’’ Madigan said. “We needed to win a series and build some momentum. We didn’t talk about it, but they knew. It was a hurdle. You don’t want to play a Game 3.’’
Now they won’t have to, spending the day instead getting ready for the Fighting Irish. In the teams’ only series this season, back on Nov. 12-13 in South Bend, Ind., Notre Dame beat NU in the first game, 3-2, and skated to a 2-2 tie in the second.
Maine outshot the Huskies all night, peppering Ryan Ruck with 36 shots. The Black Bears got their first one past the freshman goaltender with 8:16 left in the second period, a power-play goal from Cam Brown, who knocked in an easy second chance after Will Merchant’s initial shot was stopped by Ruck, but not contained. Ruck finished with 33 saves, McGovern 26.
Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.
