NORTH ANDOVER, MA -- Graig Mischler's goal midway through the third period lifted the Northeastern Huskies to a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the struggling Merrimack Warriors. The victory was Northeastern's third-straight versus Merrimack, completing a sweep of the season series and putting the Huskies back into a tie for first place in Hockey East.

Merrimack's Kris Porter opened the scoring 8:11 into the first period with his nation-leading 28th goal of the season. After collecting a pass from from defenseman Tony White, Porter glided through the Northeastern defense and shot the puck past Husky goaltender Marc Robitaille for a 1-0 lead.

Northeastern tied the game at 1-1 four minutes later on a partial breakaway by Matt Keating, who skated past the lone Warrior defender at the blue line and slid the puck past Merrimack goaltender Cris Classen. The goal came after the Warriors had carried the play for much of the period, only to be denied by the stellar play of Robitaille.

Merrimack continued to press after the goal, hitting the crossbar on a shot by Rejean Stringer with 2:59 to play in the period.

The two teams exchanged goals in the second period. Northeastern's Scott Campbell put the Huskies on top, 2-1, with a power-play goal 4:29 into the period. Bobby Davis and David Dupont assisted on the goal from just outside the crease.

The Warriors answered with a power-play goal of their own just three minutes later, when Sandy Cohen knocked home his 19th goal of the season (assisted by Joe Gray and Jayson Philbin).

Merrimack appeared to jump in front 2:47 into the third period, but in a controversial call referee Jim Fitzgerald ruled that the net had come dislodged before the puck crossed the line.

Mischler's game-winner for Northeastern came five minutes later, after a furious series of shots on Classen. Brian Cummings and Roger Holeczy both assisted on the goal.

Both goaltender's played outstanding hockey the entire way, but Robitaille was one goal better than Classen. "Marc's done it game in and game out for us," said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder after the game. "He plays well, makes big saves and gives us a chance to win."

"We had our chances," noted Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. "Our guys played well, but they just couldn't bang one home at the end. Robitaille played well for Northeastern, and they capitalized on their chances."

Josh Roberts is a Hockey East game reporter for U.S. College Hockey Online.

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