By Jack Weiland

Two more games against a nationally-ranked opponent. Two more frenzied Matthews Arena crowds. Two more close calls.

And two more losses for the Northeastern men’s hockey team last weekend.

NU furthered its winless streak to 16 with a two-game set against No. 12 Maine last week. The losses, 6-3 Friday night and 2-1 on Saturday, dropped Northeastern to 1-18-5 overall, 1-13-5 Hockey East.

This despite Black Bear coach Tim Whitehead feeling “fortunate” to take Friday’s game with three third-period scores and felt Northeastern “deserved better” after Saturday’s hard-fought contest.

In Friday’s tilt, Northeastern answered each of Maine’s first three goals before the third-period onslaught. Senior Greg Moore scored twice and assisted once for the Black Bears (17-9-0, 10-7-0), while third-line junior Keith Johnson also scored a pair for the visitors.

Johnson scored the game’s first goal, but five minutes later NU junior Yale Lewis struck back. He raced for a loose puck in the Maine zone as goalie Ben Bishop (18 saves) left the crease, attempting to reach it first. However, Lewis won the sprint and tapped the puck into Maine’s vacant net.

Four minutes before the first intermission, Moore made it 2-1, but junior defenseman Brian Deeth answered that call, too. The junior took a pass from sophomore forward Josh Robertson and ripped it over Bishop’s left shoulder.

In the second period, Moore struck again to make it 3-2. But, yet again, Northeastern clawed back. After nearly four straight minutes of 5-on-3 power play time, senior forward Brian Swiniarski took a slap shot that hit Bishop’s chest, glanced off the crossbar and laid untouched in the crease for freshman forward Dennis McCauley to swat home.

In the third period, though, Maine scored three times to earn the victory. Johnson, defenseman Travis Wight and center Jon Jankus did the damage.

“I think we were fortunate tonight to come out with a win,” Whitehead said after the game. “The momentum shifted to us in the third period, but it certainly could have gone the other way.

“That’s what we expected,” he later added. “Just from over the years, we know it’s going to be a battle every time we play them and this was exactly the same.”

Saturday was a different game. Maine scored twice in the opening frame and never looked back. Christopher Hahn also scored in the first period for Maine.

In the second period, senior captain Chuck Tomes scored an unassisted goal, skating up the left boards before throwing a puck to the net that bounced off Maine goalie Matt Lundin (20 saves) and in.

But the Huskies never finished the climb.

“It was a big, big weekend,” Whitehead said Saturday. “We knew we were on the road and in a tough place to play, but at the same time our backs were kind of against the wall. Our guys did play well. I thought we had good intensity and we worked hard. So did Northeastern, but in the end we were one goal better tonight. But the result could have been very different. I thought they did deserve a better fate tonight.”

Both teams played better defensively. Maine held NU to just seven shots over the final two periods, while the Huskies eliminated many of the rebound chances that did them in the previous night.

“We didn’t like giving up a lot of chances [Friday] even strength, that’s something that we keyed on in the morning meeting,” assistant coach Brendan Walsh said. Head coach Greg Cronin was unavailable for comment.

“For us, making adjustments to our game is part of the process,” Walsh said. “As a staff, we’re happy with that.”