UConn demolishes Northeastern, 7-1

UConn men’s hockey finished off a weekend sweep of the Northeastern Huskies with a blowout 7-1 win at Matthews Arena on Saturday. The six-goal margin of victory is tied for UConn’s largest since joining Hockey East.

Six different Huskies scored — including three defensemen — with two from Ethan Whitcomb and one each from Viking Gustafsson Nyberg, John Spetz, Nick Carabin, Jake Richard and Kaden Shahan.

In goal, Tyler Muszelik made 13 saves as UConn allowed a season-low 14 shots.

The visiting Huskies jumped the home Huskies from the start. Spetz unleashed a one-timer at the blue line that rebounded to Gustafsson Nyberg and the big defenseman buried the chance for his first goal as a Husky. Later in the period, the Ethans teamed up to double the lead. Ethan Gardula slipped a pass to Ethan Whitcomb, who sniped a shot into the top corner that extended the gap to 2-0.

Northeastern pulled one back with a power play goal but UConn answered right back with one of its own. After Jake Richard’s stick broke, Spetz jumped on the ice to replace him. He posted up in front of the net and although his first attempt at the doorstep denied, he then chopped the puck five-hole for his first goal of the season. That put the Huskies ahead 3-1 with 20.4 left in the opening stanza.

In the middle frame, UConn built on its lead with a pair of slicing passes. First, Richard set up Carabin for an easy tap-in on the back post to make it 4-1 before Kai Janviriya sent a pass from the blue line to Whitcomb on the far side, who put it in for his second goal of the night. The 5-1 scoreline held into the second intermission.

Even with the big lead, the Huskies didn’t let up. Richard snuck a one-timer into a pinhole opening in the top corner to extend his goal scoring streak to four games and push the advantage to 6-1. Shahan then piled on another for good measure to reach the final score of 7-1.

With the win, UConn improves to 19-10-4 overall and 11-8-4 in Hockey East. It also holds on to fourth place in the standings and remains at eighth in the Pairwise. Next, the Huskies will wrap up the regular season with a trip to Vermont on Thursday.