Boston, Mass. — Early in the third period of the Beanpot final, Northeastern goaltender Cayden Primeau was knocked by a Boston College player in the crease.

Time stood still as Primeau stayed down and the Huskies trainer came out to attend to the sophomore keep who has been a key part of Northeastern’s resurgence the past two seasons.

“It was a play where they tried to go to the back door,” Primeau said. “The guy crashing the net, he hit me in the groin area—so, it was a little bit of a stinger. I wasn’t ready to come out of the net at any point.”

The play was a blip on the radar which saw the 2017 seventh round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens make 33 saves as he backstopped Northeastern to a Beanpot Championship for the second straight season as the Huskies defeated the Eagles 4-2 on Monday night.

He was also named the tournament’s MVP and took home the Eberly Award, which is awarded to the goaltender who had the best save percentage and played in two games. He made 59 saves on 62 shots between the semifinal and final for a save percentage of .951.

Primeau joins Bruce Racine (1985, 1988), Marc Robitaille (1997, 1998) and Brad Thiessen (2008, 2009) as Northeastern goalies who have won the Eberly Award multiple times.

For the season, Primeau is 15-8-1 with a 2.36 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.

The third period was when the Huskies needed their best player to be their best player as Primeau made 13 saves in the final 20 minutes.

“Tonight through two periods, we played well,” Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said. “I thought we got on our heels in that third period, but our guys [settled] down. The senior leadership, the older guys were really good on the bench. I thought Cayden Primeau was just outstanding tonight and he was deserving of the awards he got tonight.”

His teammates knew they were in good hands when the game became a little wide open as BC tried to come back.

“He was unbelievable tonight and last week,” senior defenseman Eric Williams said. “We don’t win this tournament without him, he gives our team so much confidence. He gives our defense more confidence in taking more risks and staying up [in the offensive zone] to make plays. Like coach said, there were times we were on our heels in this game and he bailed us out several times tonight.”

Monday night just added to Primeau’s resume on the big stage. It’s something Madigan has seen from Primeau even prior to arriving to Northeastern. As a 17-year-old he helped the United States to a silver-medal finish at the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Tournament —now known as the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Later that season, he also backstopped the Americans to a gold medal at the 2016 World Junior “A” Challenge.

Earlier this season, he led Team USA to a silver medal at the World Junior Championships.

“Being on the big stage, I have been there before,” Primeau said. “Getting that experience is huge for the confidence. Everytime, you try to show up for the big games. “

The win against Boston College just added the pedigree and may even cut his stay on Huntington Avenue shorter than Madigan would like it to be.

“The only concern I have is he’s having so [much] success, the red, white and blue of Montreal might becoming after him a little sooner than I think he’s ready,” Madigan said. “That’s a good thing and we will deal with that at the right time.”

Montreal has Carey Price locked up through the 2025-26 season while backup Antti Niemi is an unrestricted free agent after this season. Minor league goal Charlie Lindgren is signed through the 2021 season, while Michael McNiven is a restricted free agent in 2020.

The Canadiens can be patient with Primeau as they don’t have to sign him until after his senior season is completed in 2021.

Turning pro, while on the horizon, isn’t something that was on Primeau’s mind Monday evening. He was still basking in the glory of giving Northeastern its sixth Beanpot in school history and allowing the first-year players to soak in the bragging rights.

“It’s a hard tournament to win and being able to do it back-to-back with this group and the incoming freshmen to experience it as well, it’s unbelievable,” Primeau said.

Nathan Fournier has been covering hockey — from high school to the American Hockey League — for the past 10 years. You can follow him on Twitter.