Connecticut at Northeastern: Pregame Notes and Line Combinations

BOSTON -- Good Friday evening everyone and welcome inside historic Matthews Arena on the campus of Northeastern University where the Huskies face Connecticut for the first time as a Hockey East foe and for just the third time in the team's hockey histories.

Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. Tonight's game and all NU home games will streamed live, for free on GoNUxstream.com with Rob Rudnick and Greg Costa on the call.

The game is a very important one in the Hockey East standings as the teams enter the weekend in a tie for seventh place with 16 points in as many games. However, fourth-place Providence is just three points ahead.

NU has won four straight games, including a 5-3 decision at UMass a week ago, and is in the midst of its second six-game unbeaten streak of the season. Senior Clay Witt made 19 saves for his third straight win in that contest.

The Huskies are 7-1-3 since the turn of the calendar year after defeating the Minutemen last Friday thanks to a goal and an assist from junior Kevin Roy. The effort was Roy's second straight multi-point game as he leads the team with 12 goals and 30 points in 26 games.

UConn is 1-1-2 in the month of February after a 1-0 home win over Merrimack on Tuesday in which freshman Spencer Naas scored his fifth game-winning goal of the season and sophomore Rob Nichols pitched his third shutout of the season with 32 saves. The effort lifted the Huskies back from a 10-1 loss at Providence last Saturday.

Naas has scored nine goals in his last 13 games and leads the team with 12 on the season. He is UConn's only double-digit goal scorer through 29 games, while junior Shawn Pauly paces the overall offense with 17 points. In addition, sophomore Brent Norris has cracked the scoresheet in each of the last three games and has two goals and four assists over the last ten.

Here are tonight's lines:

CONNECTICUT (9-13-7, 6-7-4)

Cody Sharib - Ryan Tyson - Joey Ferriss
Patrick Kirtland - Shawn Pauly - Trevor Gerling
Spencer Naas - Kasperi Ojantakanen - Corey Ronan
Jeff Wight - Brent Norris - Evan Richardson

Ryan Segalla - Jacob Poe
Kyle Huson - David Drake
Derek Pratt - Joona Kunnas

Rob Nichols
Tom Comunale
Steve Thulin

NORTHEASTERN (12-11-4, 7-7-2)

Kevin Roy - Dalen Hedges - Mike McMurtry
Zach Aston-Reese - Mike Szmatula - Torin Snydeman
Nolan Stevens - John Stevens - Ryan Rosenthal
Dylan Sikura - Brendan Collier - Adam Reid

Dustin Darou - Matt Benning
Trevor Owens - Colton Saucerman
Dax Lauwers - Garret Cockerill

Clay Witt
Derick Roy
Jake Theut