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Devils Roll Into Boston For Two vs. #17 Northeastern

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Devils Roll Into Boston For Two vs. #17 NortheasternDevils Roll Into Boston For Two vs. #17 Northeastern
BOSTON, Mass. -- The Arizona State Hockey program will carry momentum from their historic win on Sunday into a two-game series with No. 16/17 Northeastern starting on Friday, Oct. 21 at Matthews Arena. The series with the Huskies (1-1-2) will be the fifth and sixth straight game against a ranked opponent for the Devils (1-3-0). 

Head coach Greg Powers praised his young team for playing their best game thus far this season against then-No. 18 Air Force, but says it's time to turn the page with another opportunity to prove what they can do on the road against one of the nation's best.

"Northeastern is a historic program with a lot of recent success, and again one of the toughest teams we'll play this season," said Powers. "Being on the road, it will again come down to our ability to capitalize on special teams and staying out of the box. I truly believe if we can do those two things, we'll leave Boston knowing we competed with one of the best teams in the country."

After taking 19 penalties followed by 12 respectively in the first two games at Notre Dame, the Devils have taken a total of 12 in the two match-ups with Air Force. The Devils killed 10 of the 11 Air Force power plays during the two games, while scoring on two of their eight opportunities. 

Sun Devil freshman Tyler Busch continues to pace the team with a goal-per-game average after finding the back of net in each of the first four games. His four goals are the second most in the nation by a freshman, and tied for fourth in the country overall.

Eight Sun Devils have found the back of the net so far through four games, and seven of them by new Sun Devils.

Between the pipes, Powers traveled with all three of his goaltenders, stating him and his team are confident with whomever he decides to put out there any given night. Freshman Joey Daccord earned the first win of the season on Sunday, posting 24 saves in the 5-2 victory.

On the other side, Northeastern is the defending Hockey East Tournament Champions, who upset 3-seed Notre Dame, 1-seed Boston College and 4-seed UMass-Lowell on the way to making the NCAA Tournament. They would end up drawing the eventual NCAA Champions, North Dakota, in the first round.

The Huskies return four of their five top scorers from 2015-16, including Zach Aston-Reese (14-29-43) and Nolan Stevens (20-22-42). Netminder Ryan Ruck also returns, posting a 20-11-4 record with a .909 save percentage and 2.36 goals against average.

Both games begin at 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. AZT and can be watched live here. You can also listen to Dominic Cotroneo of ASU's Blaze Radio here. Follow us live on Twitter at @SunDevilHockey for live updates.