BY ANDREW SMITH

BOSTON - The last three weeks have not gone well for the University of Massachusetts hockey team.

After a four-game winning streak in the middle of January, the Minutemen have now lost five of their last six games, including a 6-3 defeat Saturday by Northeastern at Matthews Arena. That completed a weekend sweep by the Huskies who won 2-0 at the Mullins Center Friday night.

UMass (16-13, 11-11 Hockey East) has five games left in its regular season to gain some momentum before the postseason.

"We're a broken vehicle right now that needs to be repaired," said Minuteman coach Don "Toot" Cahoon.

With the loss, UMass is now in a tie with Boston University in fourth place of Hockey East with 22 points apiece. The Terriers defeated Maine 5-2 on Saturday.

The top four teams host the quarterfinal series in the conference tournament.

Northeastern (15-12-1, 10-10-1 Hockey East) moved into sixth place in the conference, one point behind the Minutemen and BU.

It appeared that Saturday's game was heading in the wrong direction for UMass when Huskies freshman Robbie Vrolyk scored five minutes, 43 seconds into the first period. His teammate Drew Daniels skated out from behind the net and he passed the puck to Vrolyk for a one-timer past Minuteman goaltender Paul Dainton (31 saves).

UMass defenseman Michael Marcou tied the score 1-1 with 3:21 left in the opening period when Michael Lecomte sent him a cross-ice pass. Marcou put it behind Northeastern goalie Chris Rawlings (34 saves) for his seventh goal of the season.

Lecomte returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a broken bone in his foot. Late in the third, he was assessed a five-minute fighting major and a game disqualification, making him unavailable for Friday's game at Merrimack.

"I got a real good effort out of Michael Lecomte considering how little he's practiced over the last couple of weeks," said Cahoon. "It speaks to his conditioning and the fact that he's all the way back (from his injury). I thought his line (including Chase Langeraap and Eddie Olczyk) had as many good shifts as any."

Wade MacLeod put the Huskies back up by one at 7:41 of the second period when he was able to extend himself enough to get his stick on a Tyler McNeely pass and redirect it past Dainton for a power-play goal.

"I thought we competed for maybe the first half of the game and it was a real good battle," said Cahoon. "The second half of the game, I thought we didn't play at all together.

"We really became unraveled in terms of organization, break-outs, center-ice play, defensive zone coverage, power plays, every aspect of the game," he added. "We're just not playing together.

"It's not for a lack of effort. It's a lack of unity. That goes back to how we (as coaches) are training these kids, how effective we are in getting them to play together."

Kyle Kraemer gave Northeastern a 3-1 lead at 10:17 of the second period when his wrist shot got outside Dainton's leg pad.

Vrolyk and Jake Newton added goals in the third to put the game out of reach for the Minutemen. Vrolyk's goal was on a power play, while Newton's came during four-on-four play when he was on an odd-man breakaway with MacLeod.

Danny Hobbs added a goal for UMass at 11:39 of the third to make the score 5-2, but that was answered by MacLeod's second goal of the game less than a minute later.

With 4:58 left in the game, Will Ortiz recorded a short-handed goal for the Minutemen.

During the last six games, special teams have been a problem for UMass. In the two-game series wit the Huskies, the Minutemen were 0-for-9 on the power play, including a four-on-three advantage to end the second period Saturday.

UMass plays at Merrimack at 7 p.m. Friday in the first game of a home-and-home series. The Warriors will visit the Mullins Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.