Sunday, November 19, 2023

Terriers complete weekend sweep of Maine with 5-4 win; Women edged by Providence

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With goals from four different players and an outstanding 39-save effort by Mathieu Caron, #8 Terriers held off #9 Maine for a 5-4 barn-burner win at Agganis Arena. Playing in front of season's largest home crowd of 5,858, Quinn Hutson continues to wield a hot stick and scored twice with singletons coming from Luke Tuch, Shane Lachance and Devin Kaplan. Macklin Celebrini assisted on three goals.

The weekend sweep raises BU’s overall record to 8-3-1 while a conference record of 5-1-1 has the Terriers all alone in first place.

In the Pairwise rankings, the Terriers moved up to the #2 slot, trailing only Quinnipiac, whom they'll host in a Thanksgiving eve matchup.

"It was a big weekend sweep for us against a very good team," said a mostly-please Coach Jay Pandolfo.  "I think what we need to take away from it as a team is we need to learn how to close games out ... We have to manage the game much better. It's still early in the season, so hopefully we learn."

Mimicking Friday’s game, the Black Bears got on the board first, only to be tied by a BU power-play goal.

At 10:12 Maine scored on the rush with Bradly Nadeau firing home a shot from the left circle.

Four minutes later, BU, with a man-advantage, responded. Lane Hutson kept the puck in at the left point and dished to his brother. Quinn, with a few slick moves, created time and space for himself in the left circle. With Shane Lachance planted at the edge of the crease, goalie Victor Östman peered to the left of the big forward and as Lachance stepped left Hutson blistered a shot home on the stick side. Like Friday’s game, 1-1 after one.

Five minutes into the second, the Pallindrome Line (17-11-71) gave BU the lead. Quinn Hutson won a puck battle at the left boards and sent it to Celebrini in the right circle. His shot was redirected past Östman by Luke Tuch for the senior’s fifth goal and a 3-1 lead.

Maine nearly got one back midway through the period when Bradly Nadeau had a breakaway but was stoned by Caron. As the period wound down, Doug Grimes made a big-time block to thwart a Maine flurry. Shots for the period were 10-7 Maine. After four periods of losing the face off battle to BU, the Black Bears dominated the dot in the period, 16-5.

Just over four minutes into the third period, Tom Willander fired a pass to Lachance in stride at the Maine blue line. Skating in alongside Sam Stevens, he rifled a shot from the left circle dot beating the goalie through the five-hole for his third goal and a 3-1 lead.

A Terrier penalty gave Maine a chance to close the gap, which it did on a Lynden Breen blast from the top of the left circle past a screened Caron.

BU responded quickly…on the very next face off. Lane Hutson sent Celebrini and Quinn into the zone, 2-on-1 one. Macklin slid the puck to Quinn in the slot and he quickly fired it over Östman’s glove. His third goal of the weekend restored the two-goal margin.

Strong cycling by the Terriers’ second line produced the eventual game-winner at the nine-minute mark. Kaplan controlled the puck in the corner, dropping it to Ryan Greene, who left it for Jeremy Wilmer behind the goal line. He quickly reversed direction and slid the puck to Kaplan at the goalmouth for the final and a 5-2 lead.

Maine got a chance to chip away at the lead when BU took a penalty thirteen minutes in. Josh Nadeau one-timed a pass from the high slot, making the score 5-3.

Four minutes later the Black Bears closed the gap to one when Nicholas Niemo threw a puck toward the crease and it went off’ a Terrier stick and past Caron.

Maine pulled the goalie with 1:47 left and pressed the attack. Cade Webber and Stevens blocked shot attempts while Caron’s acrobatics kept the visitors from producing an equalizer. With 10 ticks left on the clock, the junior transfer from Brown sprawled to stop a Bradly Nadeau rip that appeared ticketed. [Note:The game's final two minutes are shown in full in the highlights linked below.]

Commenting on Caron's performance, Pandolfo said, "Clearly, he's playing very well. Seems he's getting more comfortable. Seems he's getting better, game to game, week to week....Very happy with his weekend."

Since Pandolfo took the reins as head coach, BU has a 29-1-0 record in games when the Terriers carried a lead into the third period—6-0-0 this season. The only loss was last February when Merrimack rallied to tie in the third and win in overtime, 4-3.

BU’s three third-period goals came on just eight shots.

Webber (5) and Case McCarthy (3) combined for eight of BU’s 15 blocked shots.

With three assists, Celebrini now has a league-high 22 points (9G,13A), which also is tied for first among all Division 1 skaters. 

Lane Hutson's two assists give him 14 points, fifth in Hockey East and tied for first among conference defensemen.

In the last four games, Quinn Hutson has six goals and three assists.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Highlights and post-game comments: Pandolfo, Lane Hutson, Lachance

● Boston Hockey Blog Terriers secure second consecutive sweep 

 

Looking back

Charlie McAvoy scored his third goal in the Bruins' 5-2 win against Montreal. Charlie Coyle added a pair of assists.

Women's Team

Terriers dropped a 2-1 decision to Providence at Schneider Arena. After the Friars took a 1-0 lead, Maggie Hanzel tied the score in the second period. Providence took the lead for good in the final seconds of the period. 

Alexa Matses stopped 21 Providence shots.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score 

● Post-game comments Coach Tara Watchorn

 

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