Saturday, February 25, 2023

Terrier down Vermont, 5-3, regain first place

#9/8 Terriers returned to the winning side of the ledger with a 5-3 road win against Vermont at Gutterson Field House, snapping a four-game skid. BU broke a 2-2 tie after two period when freshmen Devin Kaplan and Quinn Hutson connected for goals early in the third.

“Feels great to get back in the win column. I thought overall we played pretty well tonight,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said. "A couple of chances we gave up, I didn’t like.  I think we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit. Overall, the effort was good. I thought we started playing the way we are capable of playing.” 

The victory was the Terriers’ 21st, most since the 2017-18 season when they won 22 and reached the NCAA regional final. 

The win, coupled with Northeastern’s loss to UMass, vaulted BU back into first place in the Hockey East race with 45 points. Merrimack, which beat Lowell, is one point back at 44 but have played one more game than the Terriers. BU has now clinched home ice for the Hockey East quarterfinals.

With three regular-season games remaining, BU sits at #7 in the PairWise Rankings.

Unlike the last four games, the Terriers got on the board first and did so early. BU immediately got on a cycle in the Vermont zone. Dylan Peterson tapped the puck to Jamie Armstrong who fed Ty Gallagher at the blueline. Gallagher held the puck while Peterson headed to the net where he deflected Gallagher’s blast past goalie Gabe Carriere just 33 seconds into the game.

At 13:12, Vermont tied the score. A shot that missed the net took a strange bounce off the end boards and slid toward the crease. The puck went through Cade Webber and right to Andrei Buyalsky who roofed it past Drew Commesso.

BU dominated the middle period outshooting the Cats 15-6, but didn’t regain the lead until 16:16. Ryan Greene set up Jay O’Brien in the slot, but he was defended. O’Brien regained the pucks and quickly passed to Luke Tuch in the left circle for a one-timer that beat Carriere to the glove side. It was the junior wing’s eighth goal.

Moments later an O’Brien penalty put UVM on a power play, which the Terriers killed. But the Catamounts regained possession in the O- zone on a turnover and at 18:55 Finn Evans scored from the left circle to tie the score at two apiece.

BU struck early in the third. From along the wall in the BU zone, Wilmer Skoog sent the puck to Matt Brown who broke out 2-on-1 with Kaplan. As they crossed the Vermont blueline, Brown dished to his linemate who faked a return pass to freeze the defender and then ripped a low shot past Carriere’s glove. Kaplan’s ninth goal put BU back on top, 3-2.

The lead was doubled a minute and half later. Captain Dom Fensore rushed the puck from the BU zone up the left side and deep into the offensive zone in a move that had seen him score several times in earlier games. This time, however, Fensore made a perfect pass to Quinn Hutson at the right post for a tap-in and a 4-2 lead. Gallagher picked up his second assist on what was Hutson’s 10th goal.

A faceoff violation by Nick Zabaneh put the Cats back on the man-advantage midway through the period. Once again BU killed the penalty, but once again Vermont scored shortly afterwards on the rush when William Lemay got behind the Terrier defense and scored in tight for his first goal of the season.

Vermont had stretches of O-zone possession later in the period, but BU blocked multiple shots and kept scoring opportunities to a minimum. With Carriere pulled for an extra attacker, Peterson chased down a puck and popped it into the empty net for his second of the night and fourth of the year. Fensore and Case McCarthy had the assists.

Discussing the shuffled lines that put O’Brien, normally a center, at right wing, Pandolfo said, “I think tomorrow we’ll stick with similar line combinations. I though he was really good on the wing with Greene and Tuch. They had a ton of chances.”

And in regards to the team’s approach to the third period, he pointed out, “We played a really good second period…We just said to stick with it, keep playing our game, play smart,” Pandolfo said of the message going into the third. “If we do, we’ll get the result we want. Those guys stuck to it.” 

For the game, BU outshot Vermont 36-22. Drew Commesso stopped 19 shots while the Terriers blocked 17 shots, led by Webber with five.

Terriers and Catamounts will close out the two-game series Saturday evening in a 7:30 p.m. start.


● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Pandolfo Post-game comments

● Video highlights 

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

Looking ahead

2024 recruit Jack Pridham's hat trick powered St. Andrews College to a 7-4 win against South Kent School in the Prep Hockey Conference playoffs. Overall, the right wing has 29 goals and 31 assists in 43 games, including a 14-10-24 line in 15 PHC games.

2023 recruits Macklin Celebrini and Jack Harvey each assisted on a pair of goals as Chicago rallied to defeat Green Bay, 6-5. Fellow recruit Hunter Hady also had an assist. Celebrini remains atop the USHL scoring stats with 64 points while Harvey is third with 51.

2024 or 2025 recruit Cole Hutson assisted on a pair of goals in his first game with the NTDP U18s, after being called up from the U17s, in a 12-4 win over Lindenwood. He has a combined 44 points and moved ahead of Dom Fensore on the list of best single-season points totals for an NTDP defenseman. 2024 recruit Kai Janviriya picked up his 18th point.

2024 recruit Kamil Bednarik scored his 15th goal in the NTDP U17s 7-4 loss to Muskegon. Defenseman Gavin McCarthy, a 2023 recruit, had an assist for the Lumberjacks and now has 20 point in 23 games.

Looking back

Matt Nieto scored his 11th goal in Colorado’s 5-1 win against Winnipeg. Alex Rodrigues recorded his 16th assist for the Avalanche.

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