Friday, March 21, 2025

Huskies dominate BU in Hockey East semifinal

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The calendar said it was Thursday, but the Terriers' performance in last night's Hockey East semifinal was a flashback to some of the underwhelming Friday night efforts of first semester. And the result was a dominating 5-2 win by UConn, sending the Huskies to their second conference championship game. 

They'll face Maine, who rallied to defeat Northeastern in double overtime.

Throughout the game, an aggressive forecheck kept the puck in the BU defensive zone for long stretches, while D-zone coverage mistakes led to four of the five UConn goals. 

Coach Jay Pandolfo pulled no punches describing his team's disappointing performance and UConn's 

“That was a good old fashioned ass-kicking, that’s what that was," he said post-game. "Out-battled to every puck, out-battled on the wall, out-battled in the slot…they wanted it a heck of a lot more than we did.”
 
“Outcompeted, outbattled for every puck, outbattled on the wall, outbattled in the slot,” he added. 
 
The Terriers actually outshot UConn, 27-24, for the game, but that is a misleading statistic. Thirteen of the shots came in the final period when BU was desperately trying to cut into the Huskies lead and few of those shots could be called grade A.
 
BU took a 1-0 lead on a power play midway through the opening period, but that was misleading, too, as UConn dominated puck possession and stymied Terrier breakouts, while enjoying an 8-4 shot advantage. BU had just two even-strength shots in the period.
 
On the goal, Cole Hutson hustled to keep in the zone and set up Quinn Hutson at center point. The junior wing deked past a defender to the high slot and fired a low shot that went off the left skate of goalie Callum Tung, who was being screened by Shane Lachance.  

BU's lead disappeared just a minute into the middle period. A weak clearing attempt allowed UConn to retain possession in the offensive zone. After Mikhail Yegorov defender a Tristan Fraser shot, Sascha Boumedienne whiffed on the loose puck, allowing Fraser to roof a shot over the goalie's stick side shoulder.  

Two minutes later, the Huskies took the lead. With BU attacking deep in the UConn zone, Jake Richard head-manned a pass to Ryan Tattle behind the Terrier defense for a a breakaway. He beat Yegorov through the five-hole.

The Huskies third goal of the period, at 8:42, was a microcosm of the game as poor defensive coverage allowed Joey Muldowney to score the first of his three goals.

Terriers had a carryover power play to begin the third period, but could manage only one shot, a Cole Eiserman low shot that went off Tung's pad.

Yet another clearing-attempt failure resulted in a two-on-one at the goalmouth and an easy tap-in for Muldowney past a helpless Yegorov for a 4-1 lead.

Pandolfo pulled Yegorov with six minutes remaining, but Muldowney put a dagger into any comeback hopes with an empty-net goal.

BU scored a meaningless goal in the final minute when Kamil Bednarik redirected an Aiden Celebrini shot past Tung with Eiserman picking up the second assist.

“If our guys want to play the way we did tonight at the regionals," Pandolfo said. "I don’t think we’re gonna like the result.
 
“If it happens again, the season’s over. I don’t know how many lessons this group needs, but it’s an elimination game with a chance to get to the Hockey East finals, and we didn’t show up.” 

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Highlights

● Pandolfo post-game comments

● Boston Hockey Blog  BU men’s hockey falls to UConn 5-2 in Hockey East semifinal

Looking back    

Trevor Zegras' scored his eighth goal and added an assist in Anaheim's 4-1 win against Nashville.

Jack Eichel assisted on a pair of goals as the Golden Knights thumped the Bruins, 5-1. With 82 points (21G,61A), the former Hobey Baker Award winner has equaled his career-high in points.

 

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