Pick a word — improbable, historic — and it likely wouldn’t fully characterize the turnaround authored by Northeastern’s hockey team.

Here’s one that might: Complete.

Fourteen games into what looked like a lost season, the Huskies had one win. Over their past 23 games, they have just one loss.

Victory No. 22 on the season was the most significant. It gave Northeastern a 3-2 win over UMass Lowell on Saturday night in the Hockey East championship game at TD Garden, the second time in program history that the Huskies have won the conference tournament title, and first since 1988, before any of the current players were born.

The win also brings an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, a destination nobody would have dared predicted in late November, when the Huskies were 1-11-2. From that point the Huskies are 21-2-3, and now they’ll be one of 16 teams announced when the NCAA brackets are unveiled on Sunday.

March madness has crossed over into hockey this year for Northeastern, which became the first No. 6 seed to win the Hockey East title. The Huskies, whose only loss in 2016 came on Jan. 2 to Boston College, will take a 13-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament.

Zach Aston-Reese scored the winner, knocking in a power-play goal with 8:57 left in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie, Northeastern’s second power-play goal of the game. Behind a brilliant late glove save from Ryan Ruck (21 saves), the Huskies salted away the final minutes, erupting from their bench and engulfing the freshman goaltender when the final horn sounded.

Lowell, the No. 4 seed, dropped to 24-9-5. The River Hawks will also be playing in the NCAA Tournament, one of six Hockey East teams that have qualified. None of the other five, though, can match Northeastern’s momentum.

“The team didn’t have an easy beginning, but that just shows when you show up every day and work hard in whatever you do, you can overcome anything,’’ said senior captain Kevin Roy. “I think that’s what we did this year.’’

Burned by Boston College 15 seconds into Friday’s semifinal, it was Northeastern getting an early goal this time, on its first shot of the game. The play started on a three-man surge up the middle with Mike McMurtry, who passed left to Dylan Sikura. Getting the puck back from Sikura, McMurtry then passed to his right, where a streaking Adam Gaudette found himself staring at a sea of open net. His goal with 18:48 left marked the Huskies’ quickest goal of the season.

Lowell tied it two minutes later on the first of two angle-defying goals, with John Edwardh scoring from the right side, Ruck tightly guarding the near post, and very little room to squeeze a puck through. But Edwardh somehow did it, flicking a high shot that Ruck couldn’t stop.

The first penalty of the game yielded the first power-play goal, something that Northeastern used in its semifinal win (two goals). With Lowell defenseman Dylan Zink (hooking) sitting in the box, the Huskies scored on a tipped shot by Nolan Stevens, who received a pin-point pass from his brother, John. The shot deflected off Lowell goaltender Kevin Boyle into the air, and headed toward the goal. Lowell’s Niklas Folin tried to stop the flying puck with his right hand, but came up empty, and the rubber came down across the line. The 19th goal of the season for Stevens gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead, and only 6½ minutes had been played.

Boyle made 21 saves, and was named the tournament’s MVP. Lowell needed three overtimes to beat Providence in Friday’s semifinal.

“I’m very proud of the kids in that room. That’s a lot of hockey they played last night. No excuse, don’t get me wrong. It’s a fact that you don’t have as much energy the following day, that’s all,’’ Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “We played against a very good team. They were the better team today. That’s why they won.’’

Lowell’s tying goal was similar to its first of the game. After winning a puck battle behind the net, Adam Chapie skated to Ruck’s right and curled in a shot from just outside the corner of the crease. Lowell was hoping it was a good omen; the River Hawks were 11-2-1 on the season when Chapie scored.

But that trend was trumped by everything Northeastern has going for it, which is substantial. The past four months have been one wild ride that few saw coming.

“We knew that we could turn this around. Did we know we were going to go 21-2? No. But we knew we could get it turned around,’’ said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, who was an assistant coach on the 1988 team that won Hockey East.

Following the win, Madigan, with an assist from former US Olympic women’s coach Ben Smith — who texted it on Saturday morning — passed along the word that he feels best encapsulates his team’s turnaround.

Unprecedented.

“I think that kind of captures what this group of young men have done, to go 1-11-2, and then to come back from the dead and go 21-2,’’ Madigan said. “To know that we won the university’s second championship in 32 years . . . it’s a memory that they’ll have forever.’’

Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.