Sunday, March 05, 2023

Commesso shines in 2-0 blanking of Friars UPDATED

                        Photo credit Rich Gagnon
With junior goalie Drew Commesso fashioning his second shutout in three games, #7 Terriers completed the regular-season—and a weekend sweep—defeating Providence, 2-0 at Schneider Arena. BU’s fourth line provided the goals as Jamie Armstrong scored in the opening period and Sam Stevens added an insurance goal early in the third period.

Commesso, after a less than ideal outing on Friday, was on his game, turning aside all 39 shots he faced, including 15 in the opening stanza.

BU finishes its regular season with a 24-10-0 and 18-6-0 in the conference. The 18 conference wins are the Terriers’ most since the 2008-09 season when they also won 18, although there were 27 Hockey East games that year). The 24 regular-season wins are the most since the 2008-09 national champs won 27.

"It was a good road win," said Coach Jay Pandolfo. "They’re good in that building. It was a close game. You have to be able to win those games, especially going into the third period on the road being up 1-0, being able to extend the lead and then hold onto it."

Addressing Commesso's performance, he added, "I thought Drew Commesso was awesome tonight. You could see right from the start of the game he was tracking the puck well. He was covering everything up in front of him, not a lot of loose pucks around him. He was excellent tonight." 

Pandolfo noted that seniors Stevens and Armstrong "have been a part of our team all year long. They bring an identity to our team. They’ve accepted their roles and play the right way every night."

While time of possession was nearly equal in the opening period, the Friars were getting shots on goal while the Terriers were not (just five).  But with less than two minutes left, BU got on the board. Stevens passed to Lane Hutson at the right point. He skated to center point and fired a shot wide of the goal  The puck came off the end-boards to Armstrong positioned to the left of the goal and he squeezed a shot past Auston Roden’s stick side. It was his fourth goal of the season and would be his second game-winner.

PC had the edge on shots in the second period, 12-7, but it was BU that came closest to scoring. Lane Hutson rang a shot off iron during a 4-on-4 sequence and Wilmer Skoog did the same at 13:30.

A few minutes earlier, at 10:46, following a scramble in the BU crease, captain Dom Fensore was whistled for a questionable cross-check. When he shared his opinion with the officials, he received a 10-minute misconduct, leaving BU with just five defensemen until early in the final period. Making matters more dicey, Case McCarthy took a slashing penalty (also questionable) in the final minute of the period. 

BU had to face the man-advantage minus the key parts of the PK unit. Providence put three shots on goal which Commesso defended.

At 3:36 Ty Gallagher, who had taken the puck behind the Providence goal line, passed to Lane Hutson coming down the left side. He whipped a cross-ice pass to Stevens in the right circle and the Montreal native waited for a defender to slide in front of Roden before firing the puck through his five hole. It was Stevens seventh goal of the season and his 14th point.

With three minutes left in the period, Providence pulled Roden for an extra attacker, but the BU defense limited quality chances and Commesso handled the rest.

BU failed to convert on four power plays but also killed all four Friar man-advantages. Over the last eight games—including the four-game losing streak—the Terriers have killed 25 of 27 power plays, a 92.6% success rate.

With two assists, Hutson claims the conference games scoring title with 34 points. He and Brown shared the overall points lead among Hockey East skaters with 43 each.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Post-game comments: Pandolfo

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

 

Looking ahead

2023 recruit Macklin Celebrini recorded his fourth hat trick of the season to power Chicago to a 7-0 rout of Madison. He improved his league best marks for goals to 38 and points to 67. 2023 recruit Jack Harvey assisted on Celebrini’s first goal and has 55 points, fourth best in the USHL.

 

2024 recruit Cole Hutson assisted on the game-winning power play goal as the NTDP U18s edged Green Bay, 3-2. He now has 45 points (8G,37A) and tied for 11th for most points by a defenseman in a single NTDP season.

2023 recruit Jack Gorton scored his 16th goal in Victoria's 4-3 OT win over Powell River. The 6'3" right wing has 38 points in 46 games for the Grizzlies.

 

Looking back

Jake Oettinger stopped 32 of 35 shots in the Stars’ 7-3 win against the Avalanche, gaining his 26th win.  Evan Rodrigues scored his 12th goal for Colorado.

Charlie Coyle scored his 12th goal and added an assist as the Bruins doubled up the Rangers, 4-2.

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