Junior center Zach Solow just might have scored the most important goal of Northeastern’s hockey season when he connected from the low slot at 14:30 of the third to hand the Huskies a nail-biting 4-3 victory over Providence College before a Matthews Arena crowd of 2,493 on Friday night.

NU (14-7-2, 8-6-1 HE) was enjoying a power play and worked the puck nicely around the perimeter before NU defenseman Jordan Harris, a Montreal draft choice from Haverhill, spotted Solow in the low slot. The 5-foot-9 Naples, Florida, product wasted little time depositing the puck into the net for his 10th goal of the season. Solow, sophomore center Tyler Madden, and freshman left wing Aidan McDonough of Milton all had a goal and an assist on the night.

“I thought it was a real good hockey game, just a gut-check win for us after we lost our last two games in overtime.,” said NU coach Jim Madigan. “We stayed with it. It was a big win. Two points are great but to beat an opponent like Providence is important.”

The marquee matchup featured No. 9 Providence against 13th-ranked Northeastern with the outcome carrying potential ramifications for the NCAA Pairwise rankings with both teams having little room to waste. The two Hockey East foes split a home-and-home series back on Nov. 15-16.

“We try not to coach the (NCAA) Pairwise, but we all know the Pairwise,” said Madigan. “Certainly, the league is tight. For us, beating a quality opponent like Providence, it’s a confidence builder.”

With both teams having been off for two weeks, some rust was expected.

“We started slow. I thought we regrouped between periods and I thought we played pretty well in the second and third periods, but I thought we were too easy to play against tonight. I don’t think we checked anybody. Three goals on the road is usually good enough to win but giving up four is too much,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman.

The action was fairly even at both ends and it appeared a bounce of the puck would pave the way for the floodgates to open. It did at the 14:11 mark when Madden intercepted a PC pass and raced in alone. Madden fired the puck over the glove hand of Michael Lackey (17 saves) for an unassisted goal, the 17th of the season for the Vancouver draft pick.

NU made it a 2-0 spread at 17:53 with another fortuitous carom. Senior left wing Matt Filipe went hard to the net front and sent a hard backhand bouncing off Lackey. It rebounded and hit the left skate of freshman right wing Matt DeMelis of Hingham and landed in the net for DeMelis’ fifth goal. Video review confirmed a good goal.

Penalties got NU into trouble early in the second with the Friars enjoying a 5-on-3. PC sophomore Jack Dugan, who began the night pacing the country in points (42) and assists (35) notched his eighth goal of the season when he one-timed a blast past Craig Pantano (30 saves) from the left circle at 3:34.

NU moved out to a 3-1 lead at 7:20 when Madden deftly slipped a backhand pass while getting knocked off his pins along the sideboards. McDonough drilled home a wrist shot for his ninth goal.

Providence (14-7-5, 8-6-2 HE) was resilient as the visitors closed to 3-2 at 15:19 when Patrick Moynihan connected on a shot from the edge of the right circle. Jack Dugan, a Vegas draft pick, opened the third period with his second goal of the game and ninth of the season to knot the score at 2:28 with a shot from the right side.

The Friars lifted Lackey for an extra attacker with just over a minute to play but couldn’t again find the equalizer.