Sunday, January 21, 2024

Terriers dispatch Vermont, 5-2, to sweep series; Women sweep the Catamounts, too


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With goals from five skaters, #1 Terriers completed a weekend road sweep of Vermont with a 5-2 victory in front of another sellout crowd at Gutterson Field House. Finding the net for BU were Lane Hutson, Jack Hughes, Devin Kaplan, Sam Stevens and Macklin Celebrini, with Kaplan’s power-play marker proving to be the game-winner. Jeremy Wilmer and Tom Willander each had a pair of assists, while Kaplan had a helper for a two-point night.

The win improves BU’s record to 16-4-1 overall and 11-1-1 in Hockey  East while stretching the current winning streak to seven games, the longest streak since last season’s nine game streak from Feb. 24 to March 25

The two-game sweep is the fourth out of five conference weekend series thus far. The fifth resulted in a win and a tie/shootout win against UMass. BU’s lead in the Hockey East standings is now nine points over BC and Maine and 15 over UMass. Each of those schools has one game in hand.

“I think we’ve been overall playing pretty well, but obviously talked about Hockey East being tough to sweep in and I thought Vermont played hard,” said Head Coach Jay Pandolfo. “We came up here to try to get six points and we did, so we accomplished that.”

That said, he added, “I still think we have room to grow. You got to put teams away. In the third period we were sloppy...that's another part of being consistent…it doesn’t matter what the score is, you can’t change the way you play.” Pandolfo had stated pre-game that he’s still looking for a consistent, 60-minute performance from his squad.

From the get-go, BU matched the expected hard forecheck from Vermont with one of its own and would have a 9-6 shot edge in the opening period.

Midway through the period with BU set up in the offensive zone, Ryan Greene sent the puck to Willander at center point. The Swedish blueliner drifted to his right and wristed a perfectly-timed pass to the left of the goal where Hutson, driving to the cage, directed it home. It was his 10th of the season

Terriers nearly doubled the lead when Nick Zabaneh rang a shot from a draw off iron. That was followed by a sharp save by Mathieu Caron on a shot from the left circle. The second goal came late in the period. Dylan Peterson took a Wilmer pass just inside the offensive zone and when he was knocked off the puck, Hughes carried it into the right corner. When the UVM defenders backed off, the junior transfer started behind the net, then reversed, wheeled through the right circle and fired a wrister that beat Gabe Carriere to the short side for his third tally and a 2-0 lead.

BU went on its first power play a minute into the middle period and it was the second unit’s tic-tac-toe passing that produced a score. Willander received a Hughes pass at center point and slid the puck to Wilmer in the right circle. The sophomore passing whiz immediately put the puck on the stick of Kaplan in the “bumper” spot and his wrister went through Carriere who was screened by Luke Tuch. For Kaplan it was his fourth of the season.

Minutes later Celebrini and Tuch threatened on a 2-on-1 but the freshman center was stoned on the doorstep by Carriere. Then with BU on a 2-man-advantage power play, Celebrini hit a crossbar.

Vermont got on the board at the 16-minute mark of the second period. A shot from 50 feet out was blocked by the BU defense. A second long shot got through and was stopped by Caron, but the rebound was pounced on just outside the crease by an unmarked Ryan Miotto, shaving the lead to 3-1.

A Quinn Hutson penalty late in the period gave Vermont a chance to creep closer, but Caron turned aside the only two shots on goal.

BU scored early in the final period, too. Cade Webber sent the puck to center ice and Stevens carried it into the offensive zone before dropping a pass to Kaplan. The Flyers’ draft pick’s shot was saved by Carriere but the rebound was cleaned up by Stevens who had driven to the net. It was the fifth goal for the Montreal native and his fourth in the last six games, restoring the three-goal margin.

Terriers thought they had another when a UVM skater fumbled the puck and Peterson grabbed it, skated toward the net and passed to Zabaneh for the finish. Upon review, the play was ruled offside.

At 7:51, BU did add to the lead off a contested offensive-zone draw. Tuch pushed the puck toward the left boards. Celebrini picked it up, drove through the left circle into the slot and whipped a backhander past Axel Mangbo, who had relieved Carriere following the disallowed goal. Celebrini’s 16th goal made it 5-1.

Vermont got one back at the 14-minute mark when Zach Dubinsky rifled a shot high over the shoulder of a partially-screened Caron to close out the scoring.

For the game BU outshot Vermont 29-26, with Caron stopping 24 shots. The Terriers connected on one of five power plays. They also killed all three Vermont power plays and now have squelched 34 of the last 36 man-advantages, dating back to November 22.

Hutson’s goal put him one ahead of brother Quinn Hutson for both the season (10-9) and their BU careers (25-24)

With a 16-16-32 scoring line in 19 games, Celebrini is tied for first in overall scoring for Hockey East skaters. He's also first in points per game with 1.68. Nationally, he leads all rookies in goals.

Wilmer now has 19 assists, three shy of last season’s 22 while his 22 points are nine shy of the 31 he had in 2022-23.

Greene didn’t skate during the third period leading to double-shifting by several forwards.  After the game, Pandolfo told the Boston Hockey Blog “He was a little banged up, so we just for precautionary reasons we kept him out for the third.”

In response to questions about the performance of several BU skaters, he said:

Stevens--"He’s an example of how we need to play on a regular basis. I’ve talked about our team being more consistent, we’re still not there as a team. Sam Stevens has been there all year long. I think some of our guys should take a page out of his book because he does it the right way every time he steps on the ice."

Hughes--“I think he’s been coming along very well since the second half started. Seems like he has more confidence…There’s no question he can help us offensively.”

Kaplan--“I liked his game. I thought he was around the net, I thought he was shooting the puck. That’s something that we talked to him about. He’s got a great shot...He’ll score a lot more goals if he shoots the puck.”

 

CHECK BACK LATER FOR THE TERRIER TAKEAWAY

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Video Highlights

● Post-game comments Pandolfo 

● Boston Hockey Blog Devin Kaplan posts two-point night as BU sweeps UVM

Looking ahead

2024 recruit Cole Eiserman scored his 33rd and 34th goals in the NTDP U18s 6-5 loss to Chicago Steel. Fellow recruit Kamil Bednarik scored his 16th goal and assisted on Eiserman's first tally. Cole Hutson had a pair of assists including on Eiserman's second goal. Eiseman now has 103 goals in 93 NTDP games.

2024 recruit Michael Chambre stopped 22 of 24 shots to lead Sioux Falls to a 5-2 win over Lincoln. Chambre, who has a 3.18 GAA, gained his 13th win for the Stampede, after winning five of his last six starts. 

Looking back

Clayton Keller scored a pair of goals (18th, 19th) in the Coyotes' 3-2 win against Nashville. Recap and videos

Charlie Coyle scored his 16th goal and added an assist as the Bruins thumped Montreal, 9-4. Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk has assists for Boston. Recap and videos

 

Women's Team

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Lacey Martin's team-leading 12th goal just a minute into the third period broke a 2-2 tie and the Terriers went on to defeat Vermont, 4-2, to complete a weekend sweep at Walter Brown Arena.

After the Catamounts took an early lead, BU responded with a pair within just over a minute late in the opening period. Catherine Foulem's ninth tally was followed by Ani Fitzgerald's third for a 2-1 lead.

After killing a BU power play late in the second period, Vermont tied the score at two apiece after two.

After Martin restored the lead, BU held the Catamounts to six shots in the third period. Nadia Mattivi added an empty-netter to seal the win.  Alexa Matses stopped 17 shots en route to the win.

Next up for BU is Tuesday's Beanpot Championship game against Northeastern at TD Garden.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Video Highlights

● Post-game comments Coach Tara Watchorn, Martin

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