
It’s not as bad as it looks.
The Boston University men’s hockey team (20-10-0, 14-6-0 Hockey East) hosted the Merrimack College Warriors (18-21-1, 13-8-0 HE) tonight at Agganis Arena where they lost 4-3 in overtime and got swept for the first time this season.
Now four deep in their losing streak, the Terriers can still take some positives away from a more hard-fought effort than we’ve seen in a while. It wasn’t a complete 60 minutes, but BU chipped away and got closer to the way they need to be playing this time of year.
“I thought we started finding our game, there’s no question,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “I thought tonight we definitely played a more desperate game so I was happy with that, obviously not happy with the result.”
The Terriers’ first period play addressed much of what Pandolfo stressed in last night’s postgame –– battling for pucks down low and getting bodies to the net. BU came out with more bite and jumped on second-chance opportunities below the circle.
While the top three lines were shuffled with freshman forward Devin Kaplan joining the kid line and Quinn Hutson slotting in with Luke Tuch and Jay O’Brien, it was the untouched fourth line that set the tempo for BU early on. Junior forwards Dylan Peterson and Nick Zabaneh were strong on the forecheck and had some of the Terriers’ better looks on the rush in the opening frame.
Despite a comparably better start to yesterday in North Andover, BU still found itself down by two heading into intermission. A knock-in shot from sophomore forward Matt Copponi at 13:30 made it 1-0 before the goal –– that arguably got Drew Commesso pulled –– from graduate forward Mick Messner bounced in with 2:20 on the clock. It wasn’t pretty.
The Terriers had trailed after the first in their last three losses and were never able to find their footing again. Tonight was different. BU showed its mental toughness, put their heads down and got right back to work in the middle stanza. Junior netminder Vinny Duplessis took over the crease, relieving Commesso for the fourth time this season.
“Just a spark more than anything else,” Pandolfo said of the decision. “Just one of those things where you try to get a spark for our team.”
I’m not trying to turn a game recap into an opinion piece, but you can’t tell me this team doesn’t play differently in front of Duplessis. That’s not to say Commesso isn’t the number one guy, but things shifted in the second.
Team point-leader Matt Brown changed the complexion of the contest at 4:34 when he stopped the puck at the blue line, walked three Warriors and snapped it low, glove side. With the deficit cut to 2-1, the BU bench got the spark it’s been desperately searching for since the Beanpot semifinals.
“It gave us a little life. We got down 2-0 again so that’s always difficult,” Pandolfo said. “I thought we were playing okay at the time and we just needed one to get our confidence.”
Almost like a switch was flipped, there was a new level of confidence in the Terriers’ stride –– and a deep sigh of relief from the press box.
Merrimack’s senior defenseman Liam Dennison was dealt a five-minute-major and game misconduct after elbowing O’Brien in the head at 9:03 –– it was non-negotiable, BU had to score here. Ryan Greene delivered on the man-advantage and slapped one home from the slot to knot it two a piece. Greene’s ninth tally of the year was BU’s second power play goal in as many games, showing slight improvement in a previously slumping special teams.
“I know we scored two power play goals but at the end of the day, I don’t think the power play was good enough,” Pandolfo said. “Having two late in the third, we just have to capitalize.”
Tensions rose towards the end of the period with seven penalties dished out at 15:06. Between another Merrimack game misconduct and a handful of roughing minors, Peterson, Zabaneh and Gallagher found themselves shoulder-to-shoulder in the sin bin. And I’m all for it. Those guys brought emotion back into the series and a gutty edge back to a BU squad that has just rolled over the past two weeks.
Lane Hutson topped off the turn-around period with his second buzzer-beater of the season. The blueliner deked the Warrior in front of him and snapped the puck from the right faceoff circle to give the Terriers their first lead in a game since Feb. 3 in Maine.
Hutson broke the program record for most goals scored by a freshman defenseman, garnering the tenth of his rookie campaign with less than a second remaining. What’s more, Duplessis collected the secondary assist on the play.
“I think our guys have been squeezing their sticks a little bit lately. You know the goals haven’t been going in as easy for us,” Pandolfo said. “It was nice to see our guys respond and come back.”
A Sam Stevens interference penalty 11 seconds into the final frame allowed Merrimack to find the equalizer with a greasy goal from senior winger Ben Brar. Spotty coverage by the Terriers down low left the net open and brought the score to 3-3. The matchup remained tied through the last 20 and overtime ensued.
BU’s best chance during the extra hockey came on a O’Brien breakaway that was stopped by sophomore Hugo Ollas with less than a minute left. A delayed penalty was called on the Terriers and Merrimack got going on the other end immediately. With 0.1 on the clock, Brar netted his second of the night and secured a 4-3 win for his group.
Four straight losses is not good. Getting swept is not good. But the Terriers showed glimpses of their old selves tonight and a type of compete we haven’t seen in nearly three weeks. The team is no doubt hitting the inevitable season rut –– albeit, unfortunate timing –– but they’re one step closer to getting their game back.
BU will look to get back in the win column next weekend on the road against the University of Vermont. The Boston Hockey Blog will have full, on the ground coverage so be sure to follow along on Instagram @boston.hockey.blog and Twitter @BOShockeyblog.