After a dominant 60 minutes against Northeastern at Matthews Arena, the Massachusetts hockey team plateaued at home and fell to the Huskies (7-10-3, 2-7-3 Hockey East) 3-0 on Saturday.

“It all comes down to our start. We were a little flat. [Northeastern] kind of had the momentum at the beginning,” captain Linden Alger said. “ … we had plenty of chances. At the end of the day, we couldn’t bury it.”

The Minutemen (10-9-2, 3-6-2 HEA) were slow from the jump compared to their performance in Boston despite getting good shots on Northeastern goaltender Cameron Whitehead. Whitehead and the Huskies defense, though, bounced back from breakdowns and kept UMass off the board.

On the first power play of the night, the Minutemen escaped the edges of the sheet and set up consistent efforts to bat in shots and rebounds. With assistant captain Lucas Mercuri on Whitehead’s right and Daniel Jenčko skating around the front of the net, the two kept shooting at the Northeastern net. Despite the aggressiveness in the offensive zone, Whitehead kept his eyes on the puck and legs across the net to keep UMass off the scoreboard.

These defensive efforts continued on UMass’ second power play of the night in the second period where the Minutemen were still looking to tie the game 1-1.

Similar to the first man advantage, UMass was quick in the offensive zone. Kenny Connors and Aydar Suniev passed back-and-forth to each other repeatedly hoping a small opening would appear. Eventually finding a chance, Connors swung from up the middle and watched the puck go just wide of Whitehead.

The wide shot caused UMass to lose control of the puck, giving the Huskies an opportunity to challenge Hrabal and soon forced the Minutemen to revert back to chaos in front of the net as seconds ticked down on the power play.

“I’d like to see us be more urgent to get the puck to the net,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “In the offensive zone, I don’t know what we were waiting to see.”

Whitehead’s sharpness kept Northeastern’s momentum steady enough to tally the first goal off 14 attempts in the first period and another at the end of the second period. He ended his night with a shutout, saving 35 shots.

“I thought [Whitehead] was on the top of his game,” Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe said. “… when your goaltender is playing that well, you’re going to be tough to beat. We saw that [Friday night. Hrabal] was a big difference in the game. [On Saturday, Whitehead] was the big difference.”

In the final minutes of the second period, Jake Boltmann doubled Northeastern’s lead in front of the crease after Dylan Hryckowian’s initial shot was deflected. Looking to keep goaltender Michal Hrabal out of trouble, Connors stuck his stick out in front of the net to send the puck away. Boltmann, though, stayed waiting for the rebound and settled into his position before sending his shot behind Hrabal.

“I thought we were missing the urgency [and] the energy that we had last night. That led to our details being sloppy,” Carvel said.

With less than halfway to go in the first period, Hryckowian came down into the neutral zone and passed the puck diagonally for the Huskies in front of Hrabal to make a play. Vinny Borgesi inched up along the edge of the circle wide open to control the pass from Cam Lund and take his shot. The puck bounced off the post and around the back of the net as Borgesi celebrated the Huskies’ first goal of the series.

The Huskies sealed the deal for the night with an empty net goal by Hryckowian after a turnover in the neutral zone. The sophomore forward ended his night with three points on one goal and two assists.

“All four lines were rolling, we were backchecking super well, shifts were short, and I think that makes everything that much easier,” Hryckowian said.

The Minutemen head to Lawler Rink to take on Merrimack College. Puck drop against the Warriors is slated for 7 p.m. to start off the home-and-home series. The game can also be watched on ESPN+.

“Every point, every game from here on out is precious,” Linden said.

Sydney Ciano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @SydneyCiano.