Thursday, January 12, 2023

Kaplan, Skoog power Terriers past UMass UPDATED

 

#7 Terriers rode a four-goal first period to a 6-2 rout of #19/17 UMass, completing a three-game season sweep of the Minutemen. Freshman Devin Kaplan scored twice—his first multi-goal game—and added an assist. His linemate, Wilmer Skoog, scored his seventh goal and assisted on both Kaplan tallies. Each of the four lines found the net and 13 Terriers had points.

The win extended BU’s mastery of the Minutemen during the past decade. Since the beginning of 2013-14—David Quinn’s first year behind the bench—BU is 18-3-3 against UMass.

The victory also moved BU into sole possession of third place in Hockey East, just one point behind co-leaders Merrimack and UConn. It also puts BU at #7 in the PairWise, up one slot.

A day earlier, Coach Jay Pandolfo had said, “We've got to get back to playing our game. "I don't think we played our best hockey on Saturday, so sometimes it's good to get right back at it.” Which is what the Terriers did from the get-go

They held a substantial territorial, shots and face-off advantage throughout the first period and got on the board at 9:29. Case McCarthy kept the puck in the zone at the right point, sliding it ahead to Kaplan, who quickly dished to Skoog. The senior center headed to the slot, faked a defender off his feet and whipped a shot past Luke Pavlicich low to the glove side. It was Skoog’s sixth goal in the last six games and his seventh overall.

Three minutes later, senior Jay O’Brien took the puck from Dylan Peterson behind the UMass goal line, carried up the left boards then across the blue line before firing a shot toward the goal. Junior Luke Tuch, stationed 10 feet in front of the net, deftly redirected it past Pavlicich for his fourth goal.

Just over two minutes later, the Terriers went on a power play. They didn’t produce a goal with the man-advantage, but did connect just after it ended. Freshman Quinn Hutson controlled the puck along the left board and wheeled at the top of the left circle. Seeing the defender in front him go down in a stick collision with McCarthy, Hutson made a bee-line toward the net and fired a wrister home for his eighth goal of the season. Assists to classmates Lane Hutson and Ryan Greene.

Less than a minute later, BU was on the board again. McCarthy sent a long stretch pass off the left boards that Nick Zabaneh caught up with at the top of the left circle. The junior speedster went hard to the net and pushed the puck under the beleaguered netminder for his fourth goal. Cade Webber had the secondary assist.

For the period BU had an 18-7 shot advantage and a 12-4 face off advantage.

The visitors cut into BU’s lead with a goal at 6:29 of the middle period. A quick transition had two skaters behind the BU defense. Scott Morrow sent a cross-ice pass to Matt Koopmans whose sharp angle shot under the bar beat Commesso.

With eight minutes left in the period, Skoog and Kaplan traded passes with Skoog finally finding Kaplan just outside the crease. The Flyers’ draft pick quickly deposited the puck into the net restoring the four-goal margin. Dom Fensore also had an assist.

At this point UMass replaced Pavlicich with junior Henry Graham. BU had a 10-4 shot advantage in the period, holding the Minutemen to no shots on goal after Koopmans scored.

Kaplan scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the season midway through the third period. Matt Brown passed from the left corner to Skoog behind the UMass cage. He skated out the right side before retreating behind the net. With defenders and Graham looking for a lacrosse attempt—as Skoog had done in the Nov. 11 Terrier win in Amherst—he slid the puck to Kaplan at the right side of the net for a quick shot past Graham. The pair of tallies give him six for the season.

With just over five minutes left in the game, Webber and UMass' Taylor Maker drew major penalties and game misconducts: Webber for hitting from behind and Makar for spearing.

Moments later, the Minutemen's Michael Cameron led a 2-on-1 rush and threw a shot on net that got past Commesso to make it 6-2. UMass would had one more power play but couldn't connect. 

"Our guys came out ready to play tonight. For the most part we dominated that game, so credit to our guys," said a clearly pleased Coach Pandolfo.

"We took away the middle of the ice. We didn’t let them get into our slot. For us, if we’re doing a good job there, it helps our transition game. We ended plays quickly, then going on offense. Our forwards played a heavy game tonight. I think we were really hard on the puck. When we didn’t have the puck, we fought to get it back."

Addressing the first line's success he pointed out,"That line was heavy on the puck, Kaplan and Skoog are big guys. They protected the puck very well. Matt Brown is really quick. He’s tough to contain. They worked off each other very well. They had a great game and they were dominant at times tonight.”

Skoog, who is playing his best hockey of the season, added, “I think the line today with me, Brown, and Kaplan compliments each other. He’s done a really good job to adjust to college hockey. It was fun tonight, and I’m looking forward to the future games too.”

Kaplan extended his point streak to five games and has three goals and five assists in that span. Skoog continues to wield a hot stick with points in six of the last seven games, producing six goals and five assists.

BU killed both UMass power plays to extend its penalty kill streak to 15. At home, the Terriers have killed off 22 straight power plays dating back to Oct. 22 against UConn

Commesso stopped 17 shots to gain his 10th win of the season and lowered his GAA to 2.58.

BU is 11-0-0 this season when scoring first and improved to 11-0-0 when leading after two periods. Terriers put 47 shots on the UMass goal, the seven time they’ve generated at least 40 shots.

Terriers have 78 total goals in 20 games for a 3.9 goals/game average, fourth best in Division 1.

  

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video highlights and post-game: Pandolfo, Skoog, Kaplan

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

 

BU Broadcast Analyst Mark Linehan's Terrier Takeaway 

-No Arizona hangover.  Long trip.. long travel day on Sunday. Was worried how they’d respond.  A rare midweek game coming at probably the worst time.  

-Great job by the coaching staff having them ready. They came out buzzing.

-Defense/transition game was impressive.  Handled the UMass forecheck real well.  D got to puck and moved it up ice much better than last weekend.   That fast break basketball approach makes our zone entries work.  Speed through the neutral zone. 

-Commesso handled their offensive spurts.

-2nd semester freshman are starting to really get it.  Kaplan especially…saw it starting last weekend.  Quinn Hudson has that rare, natural goal-scoring skill.  Can really shoot the puck. 

-Skoog starting to score also.  

-End zone coverage was on point.  Took away Grade A opportunities.  Took U Mass totally out of their game.

► Former Terrier standout and current Seattle Kraken radio analyst Dave "Sniper" Tomlinson caught up with Jack Parker and Mike Eruzione at last night's game and also handled the description of that "fake lacrosse" play on the BU/ESPN+ broadcast.     

 

Looking back

Nick Bonino, who played his 800th NHL game Tuesday night in the Sharks' 4-2 win against Coyotes, scored his sixth goal in San Jose's 4-3 loss to the Kings.

 

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