Nov. 13, 2015 | Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

By Dan Colleran

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Jake Evans and Connor Hurley scored for the Irish and Cal Petersen made 32 saves but Northeastern’s Matt Benning netted a power-play goal late in the third period as the Huskies and No. 18 Notre Dame skated to a 2-2 overtime tie on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022).

With Notre Dame (5-2-3, 3-0-1 HEA) leading 2-1 to start the third period, the teams traded several chances at both ends in a fast-paced 20 minutes. Benning ended up with the only goal of the period to ultimately force the 2-2 tie.

“I thought we had a little bit of a push after that (game-tying goal),” Head Coach Jeff Jackson said. “Their goaltender played really well tonight I thought, and so did ours. It was a pretty high tempo game.”

Petersen made 11 saves in the third period, as did Northeastern (1-8-2, 0-4-2 HEA) goaltender Ryan Ruck.

Ruck was also forced to make the only save in overtime, denying Thomas DiPauli after he was setup nicely by Anders Bjork.

Notre Dame took a 1-0 first period lead on an Evans power-play goal scored 1:16 into a five-minute power play after a Tanner Pond major penalty.

“We needed to capitalize more on power-play chances, that could have been the difference in the game,” Jackson added. “We’ve been a little inconsistent there in the last couple weekends.”

The Irish then went up 2-0 just over two minutes into the second on Hurley’s first of the year, but Garett Cockerill cut the lead in half midway through the second period.

Thirteen of Petersen’s 32 saves came in the second period when he had several big stops for the Irish, including a breakaway save on Eric Williams just three minutes into the frame and a stop on Zach Aston-Reese’s 2-on-1 attempt two minutes later.

Ruck finished with 23 saves on the night for the Huskies.

Notre Dame went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Northeastern was 1-for-4.

The Irish head back out on the road next weekend to play a two-game Hockey East series at fifth-ranked UMass Lowell on Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21.

Goals
— The Irish took a 1-0 lead at 9:00 of the first period on a Jake Evans power-play goal. Anders Bjork fed Thomas DiPauli with a pass from the half boards to the goal line and DiPauli sent the puck across the slot towards the far post where Evans’ sharp-angled wrist shot beat Ruck for his second goal of the season.

— Connor Hurley gave the Irish a 2-0 lead at 2:11 of the second period when he tapped a rebound in from just outside the goal crease after Ruck saved a Justin Wade blast from the point. DiPauli also earned his second assist of the night on the play.

— Northeastern made it a 2-1 game at 13:33 of the second period when Garret Cockerill’s shot from the point eluded Petersen with traffic in front. Sam Kurker and Kevin Roy assisted on the play.

— The Huskies tied it at 2-2 when Matt Benning’s shot from the point beat Petersen high for a power-play goal at 5:53 of the third period, with assists going to Zach Aston-Reese and Dylan Sikura.

Notes
— Jake Evans notched his first power-play goal of the season and the second of his career. He now has a two-game point streak (1-2-3).

— Connor Hurley scored his first goal of the season at 2:11 of the second period, becoming the 16th player to score for Notre Dame this season.

— With a pair of assists, Thomas DiPauli recorded his second multi-point game of the season and the 10th of his career.

— Notre Dame is now 0-0-3 in three overtime games this season.

— ND —

Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August, 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Prior to Providence, Colleran spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League. He is a 2006 graduate of Providence College, where he also earned an MBA in 2008.