Saturday, November 08, 2025

Terriers rally for overtime win; Macklin takes the lead

Group of Boston University mens ice hockey players in red and white jerseys with numbers like 91, 19, 26, 14, 22 on backs including names McNelis, Murtagh, Celibrini, Frechette wearing helmets and holding sticks celebrating victory by stacking arms on ice rink surface near boards with Aquafina advertisement referee in black and white striped uniform standing nearby scoreboard graphic at bottom showing BU 3 TERRIERS WIN 2 MC on December 13 date and Boston University Mens Ice Hockey text city skyline silhouette in background  

After trailing for much of the contest, #12/13 Terriers tied the score on a Jack Murtagh goal in the third, then quickly won in overtime on Cole Hutson's tally. The much needed 3-2 win snapped a two-game losing streak.

Mikhail Yegov atoned for a first period gaffe leading to a goal with a bevy 5-bell saves including on a breakaway in the final seconds of regulation. 

"We don't like to make it easy...That's for sure," said Coach Jay Pandolfo. "Overall, I thought the effort was there for the most part. We still make too many self-inflicted mistakes that cost us."

"In the second they didn't have many chances 5-on-5," he continued, "but they had at least four grade A chances on our power play. We've got to fix that. We've been doing that too often."

After Sacha Boisvert had an early scoring chance that rang off iron, Terrier turnovers forced Yegorov to make several big saves. A pair of BU power plays yielded just two shots on goal, but the visitors' fore check produced a two-on-one rush and a partial breakaway, both stymied by Yegorov (see highlight reel). 

Just after the second man-advantage was killed, an all-rookie unit got the Terriers on the board at the 11:04 mark. Ben Merrill raced through center ice into the offensive zone and feathered a pass to John McNelis skating through the left circle. He found an unmarked Jonathan Morello at the goalmouth for a tap-in. 

Three minutes later, the Warriors tied the scored. Yegorov fielded a dump-in behind his cage and his pass was intercepted by an opportunistic Ty Daneault. He dished the puck to Ben Yurchuck in front for the equalizer.

The visitors took the lead when BU lost a puck battle along the D-zone boards. That quickly led to a two-on-one with Justin Gill squeezing a shot past Yegorov on the short side. 

2-1 Merrimack after one. Shots were 12-7 Warriors. 

BU appeared to tie the game in the second period when McNelis set up Brandon Svoboda for a shot past Max Lundgren, but the goal was disallowed when a 'Mack defender pushed McNelis into the netminder. 

Back-to-back Terrier penalties gave the visitors power plays to begin the third period, with the overlap creating 19 seconds of 5-on-3. The BU penalty killers, who were a perfect five for five on kills, limited the Warriors to just one shot.

"The penalty kill, that's the one part of our game that's been pretty good from the first game of the season," Pandolfo explained. " We have an identity on our penalty kill; we pressure, we work, we get clears."

The momentum from the kills led to BU's best offensive pressure of the game, but no goals until there were less than four minutes left in regulation.

Aiden Celebrini's diagonal pass through the center ice reached Murtagh's stick in stride. He skated into the left circle, toe-dragged past a defender and rifled a low shot that beat Lundgren on the glove side tying the score.  It was the freshman wing's third goal of the season.

In the final minute of the period, both teams had chances to produce a game-winner. On the rush, Hutson fired from the high slot, but Lundgren defended it. Then with seconds left, Daneault got behind the BU defense, but his shot from 10 feet was snared by Yegorov.

Overtime lasted just 20 seconds. Kamil Bednarik won the draw back to Gavin McCarthy, who took his time before passing to Hutson in the neutral zone. He headed to the right circle and then, using a defender as a screen, ripped a shot past Lundgren's glove for his second game-winner of the season. 

After the game, Hutson, who now has a team-high 14 points, was asked about the team's performance. 

"Tonight, it was up and down," the reigning National Defender of the Month said. "There were shades of how good we can be, and there were shades of how poorly we've been playing."

Tomorrow's game against the Warriors is at Lawler Rink with puck drop at 6 p.m. Game Day links are in the GoTerriers.com recap.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Highlights and Post Game Hutson/Morello/Pandolfo

● Boston Hockey Blog BU beats Merrimack 3-2 in overtime after third period push

 

Looking ahead

2026 recruit Braidy Wassilyn scored both goals for OHL London who edged Kingston, 2-1. The game-winner, which came midway through the third period, was his sixth of the season. He has 12 points in 11 games, and is 4-3-7 since his trade to the Knights. First goal   

2026 recruit Viktor Norringer scored his sixth goal and added an assist in Muskegon's 6-1 win against Des Moines. The 6'3" right wing, who was a fourth-round Nashville draft pick in the 2024 draft, has 13 points in 12 games and is +7.  

2026 recruit Haoxi Simon Wang scored his first goal in Oshawa's 5-4 loss to first-place Brantford.  The left-shot defenseman, who participated in the San Jose Sharks rookie camp in September, now has seven points. Caleb Malhotra assisted on the game-winner for the Bulldogs. The 6'2" center has 24 points in18 games.

2027 recruits Carter Meyer and Sam Pandolfo each scored for Team USA in an 8-7 overtime loss to Canada White in the semifinal of the U17 World Challenge in Truro, N.S. Meyer, who has four goals in the tournament, also recorded an assist. The US will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday.

Looking back

With a goal and an assist, Macklin Celebrini powered the Sharks past Winnipeg, 2-1. He now leads the NHL in points with 23 (9G, 14A), one point ahead of his North Vancouver buddy, Connor Bedard.  

 

Women's Team

● Terrier dropped a 3-1 decision to Maine at Alfond Arena. Junior Neely Nicholson's short-hander tied the score in the second period but the Black Bears scored a game-winner and an empty-net goal in the third period.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Boston Hockey Blog recap 

 

 

 

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