Boston University began its defense of the Hockey East championship with an 4-2 quarterfinal victory over Northeastern before a packed house of 5,455 fans on Saturday night at Agganis Arena.

The No. 2 ranked Terriers improved to 25-8-2 and advanced to the semifinals on Friday night at the TD Garden. The Huskies closed out their season at 17-16-3.

“I really liked our effort tonight, I thought we played a pretty complete game,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “We put them away in the third and that is what we try to do when we have the lead and finish the game.”

The Terriers recorded their 80th HE tournament victory and atoned for their most costly loss of the campaign. The last meeting between the teams was the Beanpot title game on Feb. 12 at the TD Garden, where the Huskies came from behind to upset the then third-ranked Terriers 4-3 in overtime.

“Obviously it was a tough go at the Beanpot but at the end of the day this was a huge win of us in our last home game,” said BU graduate defenseman Case McCarthy, who scored the game-winning goal.”

NU cut the lead to 3-2 on a lucky bounce at 15:09 of the third. Freshman center Justin Hryckowian scored his second of the game on a chip shot from bad angle which bounced off BU goalie Mathieu Caron. BU defused the threat 26 seconds later when freshman sensation Macklin Celebrini scored on a wrist shot from the high slot that beat NU goalie Cameron Whitehead for his 30th of the season. Celebrini is predicted to be the first player selected in the 2024 NHL Draft.

“We stuck with it and the response after that from Macklin was awesome to see,” said Pandolfo.

Outshot 11-4 in the first, the Huskies’ urgency surfaced in all its fury in the opening nine minutes of the second period, peppering Caron from all angles of the zone. NU had reduced the shot differential to 13-10 when BU scored on unified breakout by the Terriers’ second line to go up 1-0 at 9:51.

Left wing Jack Hughes dished to center Ryan Greene, who was left unattended behind the NU cage. Greene made a soft serve to right wing Quinn Hutson, who one-timed it from the slot by for his 17th of the season and fourth of the tournament. Hutson had a hat trick in BU’s 6-1 win over Vermont in the season finale on March 9.

“I thought the second line was excellent tonight,” said Pandolfo. “That was a heck of a play on that rush. Greene found Quinn backdoor and Quinn and right now Quinn is feeling it.”

BU went up 2-0 on the power play at 13:40 when sophomore left wing deftly Luke Tuck redirected a Jeremy Wilmer pass from below the left circle for his ninth of the season. BU scored its third straight on a slap shot from the right point by McCarthy that beat Whitehead at 17:53. Caron lost his shutout bid when Hryckowian potted a wrist shot from the left circle for his 12th of the season.

The Terriers went down a defenseman at 4:04 of the third when Cade Weber, a Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick, was helped off the ice following a collision along the boards in the BU end. Weber returned with five minutes to play.