BOSTON — Neither brother played Friday night.
Saturday night, they were all the difference.
Behind a two-goal, three-point night by Kevin Roy and 21 saves by his brother, Derick, Northeastern beat St. Lawrence 4-2 Saturday night, taking three points from the weekend after the two clubs tied 3-3 last night.
“I liked the way we responded here tonight,” said Huskies’ coach Jim Madigan. “Last night, we had a pretty good third period, it bailed us out. I thought we played more of a 60-minute effort.”
“I’m really happy for [Derick],” said Kevin Roy after the game. “He’s been working really hard and he’s been playing some great games.”
It was the first win of the season for Derick after going 0-5-1 during a stretch of games earlier in the season when he was filling in for the injured Clay Witt. Tonight with Witt resting due to a brutal stretch of upcoming games for the Huskies, Roy made the most of his opportunity, improving his team to 6-10-2 on the season.
“I thought Derick Roy was really good tonight,” said Madigan. “[He] played with a lot of poise and composure and confidence, and it was great for him to get his first win here [this season].”
After giving up two goals on the penalty kill Saturday night, St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel was not happy with both – the calls and the way his team executed.
“After two games in this league, I question what penalties are,” Carvel said. “Last night, we were the better special teams and tonight, they were the better team on special teams.”
Despite two one-on-zero opportunities for Northeastern’s Nolan Stevens in the first period, the Saints received strong goaltending from Kyle Hayton, stopping everything in his path.
St. Lawrence (8-9-2) lit the lamp first at 14:42 of the opening frame when Patrick Doherty fed Matt Purmal a pass in the slot that he roofed over Roy for the early lead.
With Nolan Gluchowski in the box for interference, Northeastern capitalized on a Kevin Roy goal to tie the game at one.
Mike McMurtry, who was along the right wall, passed the puck to Roy in the high slot. The junior skated towards the net, got hit, and while falling down, threw a shot on net that caught Hayton off guard and went in for the equalizer.
“We had a good entry on the power play,” Roy said. “Mike McMurtry did a nice play. He dragged two guys and I had a lot of space, and I tried to just get it on net.
“I got pulled a little bit and I was able to get it through somehow.”
Just about 10 minutes later, the Huskies had their first lead of the weekend when again on the power play, they found of the back of the net, courtesy of Dalen Hedges.
Roy threw a cross ice pass to linemate Mike Szmatula, who quickly connected with Hedges, who then fired a rocket past Hayton for the goal.
The Saints battled back just 3:22 later after Gunnar Hughes collected a rebound off a Gavin Bayreuther shot that hit the pads of Roy and jammed it home.
After the first 18:31 of the third period saw back-and-forth action with both teams getting, but not capitalizing on several opportunities, the Huskies’ finally broke through courtesy of Szmatula.
Szmatula used a quick stick to steal the puck in the neutral zone, flew into offensive territory and sniped a shot over the left shoulder of Hayton for what turned out to be the game-winner.
Roy added on to his already big night with 43 seconds remaining in the game, scoring an empty-net goal to secure the win.
Madigan called Roy a complete package after the game, while also pointing out that the Huskies’ more disciplined approach staying out of the penalty box did wonders for his team.
“He’s highly skilled, he’s smart, he can shoot it and he can pass it,” Madigan said. “We’re a 5-on-5 team. That’s when we’re best. Tonight, we were a lot better and more focused.”
Carvel was also pleased with his teams effort despite the loss, citing that the bounces just did not go their way.
“I thought we did a good job executing the second and third periods, creating turnovers off our forecheck,” Carvel said. “Just couldn’t get enough pucks to the net, and couldn’t capitalize enough.”
