It marked the fourth straight time the Huskies have beaten the Friars. During that span, NU has outscored Providence, 17-5.

“It was a good game,’’ said NU coach Greg Cronin, whose team will head to Schneider Arena for tonight’s rematch. “For the first time this year, I thought we played with discipline and smarts for 60 minutes. I thought Providence had the puck a lot but I thought we were very smart defensively.’’

The Huskies’ first two goals came just 47 seconds apart during the second period. The first came at 1:01 during a power play. Senior right wing Kyle Kraemer had the puck at the right point and fired it toward the net, where junior left wing Tyler McNeely redirected it past sophomore goalie Justin Gates (30 saves).

The second came at even strength. Junior left wing Chris Donovan, positioned on the left side, absorbed a crushing hit from Friars junior right wing Ben Farrer after making a dish to sophomore defenseman Drew Muench, who was skating into the right circle. With Wade MacLeod driving to the net, Muench relayed the puck to the junior right wing and MacLeod fired it past Gates to make it 2-0 at 1:48.

NU (5-5-0, 3-4-0) increased its lead at 4:02 of the third when Kraemer beat Gates with a wrist shot off a faceoff. The Huskies had an opportunity for more when they had a five-on-three advantage for 1:31, but they couldn’t convert.

The Friars (6-4-0, 1-3-0) averted the shutout at 13:23 when freshman left wing Tim Schaller scored his first goal, beating freshman Chris Rawlings (28 saves) on the man advantage to pull Providence within 3-1. But at 17:41, the Huskies scored another on the power play - off the stick of sophomore left wing Alex Tuckerman - to put it away.

Cronin said Muench adds not only an offensive dimension but provides stability to a team that has been hit hard by injuries, particularly on the backline.

“We didn’t have all our [defense earlier in the season],’’ said Cronin. “We’ve still got a couple out. Muench is a good player and he makes other players better. When you put a Muench with a [Chris] Student and you’ve got [Drew] Ellement with a [Mike] Hewkin, who’s a junior, and we’ve got [David] Strathman who’s a senior with a freshman [Jake Newton], all of a sudden you start to get a little bit of balance back there.’’

For Providence coach Tim Army, it was a lost opportunity because of ill-timed infractions.

“It was a dumb penalty at the end of the first period [by junior defenseman Eric Baier],’’ said Army. “It changed the dynamic of the game. We did a good job killing it to start but a nice tip by McNeely and you’re down, 1-0, and then we fell asleep on the backcheck and then you’re down, 2-0. There were some good things but penalties cost us. You can’t come on the road and take penalties like that.’’

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.