BOSTON — In the first two years of the Jay Pandolfo era, Agganis Arena was a house of horrors for opponents of the Boston University men’s hockey team.
Not recently.
Before last weekend, the Terriers had lost just five games on home ice since Pandolfo took over before the 2022-23 season. It’s been a struggle ever since.
UMass Lowell was the latest beneficiary of those woes. The No. 17 River Hawks (6-1-0, 2-0-0 Hockey East) waltzed onto Comm. Ave. Friday night and stunned the home crowd with a 5-3 win, marking a third consecutive loss on home ice for the No. 9 Terriers (4-4-0, 1-1-0 HE).
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, because no one else is,” Pandolfo said postgame. “We just have to find a way to dig ourselves out of this. That’s really the only answer.”
The issues that plagued the Terriers against UMass Lowell are nothing new.
The River Hawks scored the go-ahead goal at 11:28 of the third on the power play, after senior forward Jack Hughes took a cross-checking minor at 10:46.
Last Saturday, a similar sequence cost BU in its 5-4 overtime loss to Michigan. In that game, the Terriers held a 4-3 lead until Gavin McCarthy took a boarding penalty at 12:29 of the third. The Wolverines tied it 11 seconds into the ensuing power play.
“At that point, you have to be able to find a way to kill a penalty,” Pandolfo said. “It’s happened two games in a row to us.”
And just as Michigan did in its 5-1 win over BU last Friday, the River Hawks rattled off a series of unanswered goals after the Terriers took a 1-0 lead. UMass Lowell did so in the second period, scoring three times in the first 10 minutes of the frame.
Sophomore co-captain Shane Lachance paced the Terriers with two goals, both on the power play, and freshman forward Cole Eiserman added a goal and an assist.
Lachance showcased his gritty playstyle on both tallies, scoring each from his usual spot at the bumper on BU’s first power play unit. His first, which gave the Terriers a 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the first, was a tip-in off a Quinn Hutson blast.
Eiserman orchestrated the other, which cut UMass Lowell’s lead to 3-2 at 14:45 of the second. The freshman forward received the puck at the right circle and faked a one-timer, instead delivering a pass right to the stick of Lachance, who was wide open at the doorstep.
Eiserman followed it up by sniping a goal of his own at 9:00 of the third, tying the game at three before the River Hawks re-took the lead.
Five different skaters netted goals for UMass Lowell: junior forward Connor Eddy, grad student forward Ian Carpentier, grad student defenseman Ben Meehan, freshman forward Libor Nemec and junior forward Dillan Bentley.
The Terriers have now allowed 15 goals in their last three games, conceding five goals in each. Pandolfo put the responsibility for it on “everyone.”
“It’s the coaching staff, it’s the players, it’s the goalie, all of it,” Pandolfo said. “We have to find a way to come together and find a way to put some good stretches of hockey together.”
BU will get another crack at UMass Lowell at the Tsongas Center in Lowell Saturday night before traveling to one of the most hostile environments in college hockey, Alfond Arena, for a marquee series with No. 5 Maine (6-1-1).
With that matchup looming, the Terriers understand that this three-game rut is at risk of snowballing into a significant losing streak — and a losing record.
“As a staff, we’re searching for solutions, looking for answers,” Pandolfo said postgame. “That’s what we have to continue to do.”