Saturday, November 18, 2023

UPDATED: PPGs power BU past Black Bears

Image

On Thursday’s media call, Coach Jay Pandolfo discussed BU’s power play noting that “It’s been a lot better…we’ve been more direct. We’ve been better at recovering pucks.” 

In the front end of its series with #9 Maine, the #8 Terriers converted their first three man-advantages and edged the Black Bears, 3-2, before a crowd of 4,400 at Agganis Arena.

"I thought we found our game," Pandolfo told the media. “Special teams was the difference tonight. I’d like to see us generate a little more 5-on-5, but overall, really happy with the win.”

The power-play goals came off the sticks of Macklin Celebrini, Ryan Greene and Tom Willander.  

Mathieu Caron turned in another strong effort, stopping a few breakaways and aslo nine in the third period.

“He seems like he’s getting better game to game,” Pandolfo said of the netminder, who made 29 saves. “He’s understanding how we play and I think he’s adjusting very well.”

Terriers extended their conference unbeaten streak to five (4-0-10) and at the end of the evening, they were tied with Providence for first place in Hockey East.

The game couldn’t have begun on a more negative note for BU. Maine won the opening draw, fired the puck into the BU zone and a Black Bear immediately leveled a Terrier defender. Harrison Scott carried the puck behind the Terrier goal line but was ridden off by Macklin Celebrini. Thomas Freel collected the puck and his wrap-around attempt glanced off the blade of Caron’s stick and into the net. Maine had a 1-0 lead just 14 seconds in.

Unfazed, the Terriers got their speed game going and drew a penalty by Maine captain Lynden Breen at the one-minute mark. Halfway through the power play, Greene wheeled across the top of the circle and passed to Celebrini at the right dot. He sent the puck to Hutson at center point and then one-time a return pass, beating Victor Östman low to the glove side. It was the freshman’s ninth goal in 10 games. BU killed a penalty midway through the period, which ended 1-1.

 

BU went back on the power play early in the second period and need just 28 seconds to take the lead. Along the left boards, Celebrini dropped the puck to Quinn Hutson, who circled to the right dot and fired toward the crease where two Terriers were position. The puck went off Shane Lachance’s stick before Greene redirected it past Östman for his fourth goal.

A Maine penalty for too many men on the ice quickly had BU on its third power play. This time the Terriers needed every second. From the left boards, Jack Hughes dealt the puck to Willander at center point. The Vancouver first-round draft puck moved to his right as Luke Tuch set up shop just outside the crease and then sent a hard wrister past Östman’s glove for his second goal and a 3-1 lead.

BU nearly made it a three-goal margin when Celebrini rang a shot off the crossbar.

With just under three minutes left in the middle period, Caron made his best save of the night, stoning Breen’s backhand attempt at the goalmouth after taking a pass from Bradley Nadeau on the rush.

As one would expect, Maine came out hard in the third and gained the momentum. They outshot BU 10-2 in the period, aided by back-to-back Terrier penalties. BU killed the first one, but Maine scored on the second. Caron defended Josh Nadeau’s shot from the bottom of the right circle, but Freel got the rebound first and lifted it into the net, cutting the lead to 3-2.

For much of the rest of the period, BU kept Maine away from the slot forcing the visitors to take long shots. With Östman pulled for an extra attacker, Caron made three saves in a row, while Celebrini hit the post of the empty net with a backhander.

With the victory, BU moved up to #5 in the PairWise rankings. Next week's opponent, Quinnipiac, remains #1, while Maine remains #2.  

With his goal and assist, Greene is on a four-game point streak (2G,3A) and now has 10 points.

Lane Hutson reached 60 career points in 49 games. Macklin remains atop the Hockey East scoring chart with 19 points in 10 games. Nationally he's tied for second.

It was a great night for BU at the face off dot, winning 34 of 58 draws. Hughes won eight of 10 while Greene controlled seven of 11. Going into the game, Maine had D1’s top face off percentage.

With two blocks, Case McCarthy leads Hockey East in that category with 24. Cade Webber is second with 23. Terriers blocked 16 in Friday's game.

Colby Cohen, who handled the analyst duties on the NESN broadcast., had a surprise visit to the booth from Mike Eruzione

Game 2 with Black Bears starts at 6 p.m. and will be live streamed on ESPN+.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Highlights and Post-game comments from Pandolfo, Willander, Stevens

● Boston Hockey Blog Fueled by its power play, BU takes down Maine, 3-2

Looking ahead

2024 recruit Cole Eiserman scored his team-leading XX goal in the NTDP U18s’ 5-4 win against Fargo. Eiserman and fellow recruit Kamil Bednarik assisted on another Team USA goal.

2024 recruit Michael Chambre turned aside 26 of 29 shots in regulation and overtime, but Sioux City came away with the shootout win over Sioux Falls, 4-3.

Women’s Team

In a back-and-forth contest at Conte Forum, Boston College outlasted the Terriers for a 5-3 win. BU had one-goal lead after the first period thanks to a Sydney Healey goal.

After the Eagles responded, Clara Yuhn’s tally made it 2-1 BU. However BC scored the next two goals to grab a 3-2 lead early in the third. The Terriers drew even on Neely Nicholson’s power-play goal at 8:31.

Gaby Roy gave BC the lead for good with four minutes remaining and an empty-net goal closed the scoring. Alexa Matses stopped 27 of 30 shots for BU.

“Obviously not the end result that we wanted, but there was a lot of good to take away from today,” BU head coach Tara Watchorn said postgame.

Terriers are back on the ice tomorrow for another road game. They’ll face off with Providence in a 3:30 p.m. start on NESN and ESPN+ for those outside of New England.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Coach Tara Watchorn post-game comments

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

 

 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Site Meter