The host Merrimack Warriors fell behind by two goals to the visiting and 15th-ranked Northeastern Huskies after the first period of play at Lawler Arena and climbed back all the way back into a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes of play in the final Hockey East game of the season between the teams.
After finishing the first period in a shots on goal tie, MC held a slight edge in the second period to take a 19-18 lead for the game overall.
Merrimack cut its deficit in half at 2:51 of the second period as Shawn Bates scored his first goal of his junior season on a great individual play down ice. Bates took the puck coast-to-coast and followed up his own shot with a rebound that dribbled past Huskies senior goaltender Chris Rawlings, who was making his first start in over a week.
Junior Mike Collins tied the game for the Warriors with 28 seconds remaining in the stanza as he buried a rebound from rookie Vinny Scotti's shot in the right circle.
Joshua Kummins is the Hockey East beat writer and a weekend editor for SB Nation Boston. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.