Friars edge Terriers, 2-1

One night after its thorough victory in Providence, a young BU team learned a hard but well-established reality about home-and-home series in Hockey East: teams seeking to avoid being swept will bring tenacity and determination from the first puck drop. The Friars did that and the Terriers didn’t match the effort, with the result being a 2-1 loss of the “too little, too late” variety.

Providence controlled the play throughout the first 30 minutes and took advantage of a pair of Terrier turnovers to build a 2-0 lead. With Nik Olssonn off for boarding, PC’s standout  center Mark Jankowski swept home a loose puck after BU had a couple of opportunities to clear the puck but failed to do so. Danny O’Regan (photo) nearly tied the score at 13:40, but his shot hit iron. In their ugliest period of hockey this season, the Terriers were outshot 17-5.

 “I knew that they were going to amp up their game, and I was hoping we were going to match our effort last night and maybe even turn it up a notch, but we didn’t until maybe 10 minutes into the second period,” Head Coach David Quinn said.

Second period began in similar fashion, although BU began to even out the momentum. Early in the period, O’Regan, set up by Jack Eichel, was robbed by Friar netminder Jon Gillies. Then, seconds after two minutes of four-on-four play ended, a Terrier turnover allowed PC’s Shane Luke to skate in unmolested and beat Matt O’Connor high to double the visitors’ lead.

The third period was all BU and the Terriers got on the board early on O’Regan’s power play goal, cleaning up a loose puck. Eichel and captain Matt Grzelcyk picked up the helpers. From there on out—save for two minutes when BU killed a too- many-men-on-the-ice penalty—BU threw everything it had at Gillies, but the Calgary Flames draft pick (2012  #2) rejected every shot, making 16 saves and earning the game’s first star. Luke was second star and O’Regan was third.

While Quinn pointed out that “good efforts for 30 minutes is not enough in this league,” there were a few positives for BU besides its reversing momentum in the final 30 minutes:

—   Another stalwart effort by goalie O’Connor, who kept the score close during the first period onslaught

—   Terriers won the face-off battle, controlling 36 of 63 draws

●GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video highlights

● Daily Free Press recap and sidebar on slow start

● Boston Hockey Blog Pluses & Minuses

● USCHO recap 
● SB Nation recap

● Post-game comments: David Quinn, PC Coach Nate Leaman

Looking ahead

2015 recruit Maxim Letunov scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season for Youngstown, but it was the Phantoms’ lone score in a 3-1 loss to Muskegon. Letunov, a 6-3 left-shot center from Moscow who is tied for third in goals in the USHL, was denied twice in the first period, but opened the scoring midway through the second with an unassisted goal. Vindy News reported:

Phantoms forward — and St. Louis Blues second-round draft pick — Max Letunov was the best player on the ice for the better part of the first two periods. He missed a wide-open net late in the first period and then was robbed by Lumberjacks goaltender Eric Schierhorn in the opening minutes of the second. He finally found the back of the net at the 9:18 mark of the second period for his seventh goal of the season. It gave the Phantoms (6-3-1, 13 points) a 1-0 lead.

“I’m always trying to be a leader on this team,” Letunov said. “I’m always trying to score. Obviously in the first period it didn’t go in, but I just worked hard and got a goal.”

2016 recruit Clayton Keller and Team USA begin their defense of the World U17 Challenge today in Lambton Shores, Ontario, with a 3 p.m. ET matchup with Sweden. The game is being livestreamed for free by Hockey Canada. Team USA won last season’s World U17 Challenge, played in January 2014, with a squad that included 2015 BU recruits Jordan Greenway and Charlie McAvoy.

Women’s Team

#6Terriers continue their conference schedule with an afternoon matchup today against New Hampshire. Puck drop is 3 p.m.  Last season, en route to its third consecutive Hockey East championship, BU swept its series with the Wildcats. Junior Sarah Lefort is BU’s top point scorer with nine, while classmate senior captain Marie-Philip Poulin leads in goals with five. Freshman Rebecca Leslie leads all Hockey East rookies with seven points on 3G and 4A.

● GoTerriers.com preview, game notes, GameTracker, TerrierTV Webcast

● Senior Sarah Bayersdorfer video interview about today’s game vs. New Hampshire

►Terriers will be without Poulin who is skating on the Canadian National Team in this week’s Four Nations Cup in Calgary. Her teammates include three former BU standouts: defenseman Tara Watchorn, and formers Jenn Wakefield and Jenelle Kohanchuk.