Sunday, March 07, 2021

Terriers nail down #2 seed with tie, shootout win at Lowell


#10/11 Terriers clinched the second seed in Hockey East after tying UMass Lowell, 3-3 in overtime, at the Tsongas Center in their final regular-season game. BU, which won the ensuing shootout, 3-2, to earn the extra point, will have to wait until Wednesday’s first-round results are in to know who they’ll host next Sunday in the quarterfinals.

BU got goals from sophomore Jay O’Brien, freshman Luke Tuch and sophomore Domenick Fensore, while Drew Commesso turned aside 35 River Hawk shots.

Lowell drew first blood at 12:29 with a man advantage. Chase Blackmun took a pass in stride coming in from the blue line and rifled a shot past a screened Commesso. BU matched that tally with its own power play goal. Two penalties produced a 5-on-3 and David Farrance set up O’Brien in the left circle for a one-timer that beat Owen Savory. Fensore also assisted.

The River Hawks regained the lead just 1:27 later when Captain Charlie Levesque redirected a short from the point past Commesso. Then, in the closing seconds of the period, a clearing attempt from behind the Lowell net was knocked down by Tuch in the right circle. He wheeled around and whipped the puck past Savory with 0.3 showing on the clock to produce a 2-2 tie.

Five minutes into the middle period, Fensore sent Wilmer Skoog up ice and followed the play into the offensive zone. The Swedish center’s shot attempt from the high slot was blocked by a defender, but the puck went directly to a trailing Fensore, who buried it for BU’s first lead of the game.

Commesso had a busy second period stopping all 13 shots he faced, including a sprawling save midway through the period that kept BU in the lead.

He made an even bigger save on a power play early in the third period, but moments later, Lowell scored an equalizer on the rush when Joe McDonald skated down the left side. His attempt to feed a teammate in the left circle went off Jamie Armstrong’s stick directly to Lesveque at the right post and he backhanded it over a lunging Commesso.

That was the only goal in the third period and the game went to 3-on-3 overtime where BU sent pucks off iron twice. First, Robert Mastrosimone pinged the crossbar. On the second one, Markus Boguslavsky was sent in alone by Farrance on a give-and-go in the final 10 seconds, but his shot rang off the left post and time expired.

During the ensuing shootout, BU took an early 2-0 as Skoog and Farrance easily beat Savory, but Levesque and Andre Lee connected for a 2-2 tie. BU’s fourth shooter, Mastrosimone made a slick move to put BU back ahead and Commesso fended off a River Hawk attempt to complete the shootout win.

“I thought it was one of the toughest games we played all year,” Coach Albie O’Connell said. “We had to grind it out. We didn’t have the sharpness that we would like.” Commenting on another strong performance in goal, he added, “I thought Drew Commesso was tremendous.”

BU's string of consecutive penalty kills going back to the second BC game was snapped in the first period. Both Lowell power play goals followed BU penalties for too many men on the ice.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video highlights

● Post-game comments: O’Connell

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

● WTBU Sports recap

Looking ahead

2022 recruit Doug Grimes scored his third goal in Sioux City’s 5-2 win against Des Moines.

2022 recruit Jack Harvey scored his third goal in Chicago’s 7-5 loss to Muskegon.

 

Looking back

It was a big night in Big D for the Big O as Jake Oettinger stopped all 21 shots in a 5-0 win against Columbus, earning his first NHL shutout (video). In his three seasons at BU he authored 13 shutouts, which tied him with John Curry and Jack Ferreira for the program record.

Jordan Greenway scored his fifth goal in the Wild’s 5-2 loss to Arizona. Clayton Keller assisted on a pair of Coyotes’ goals.

Kevin Shattenkirk scored the tying goal late in the third period and then assisted on the overtime game-winner as the Ducks edged Colorado, 5-4.

 

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Saturday, March 06, 2021

Game Day: Terrier visit Lowell in regular-season finale


#10/11 Terriers conclude their shortened regular season with a 3 p.m. matinee against Lowell at the Tsongas Center. The game, which is the last Hockey East regular-season contest, will be live-streamed on Sports Live.

Following its split with Merrimack, BU is in second place in the Hockey East Power Index, trailing Boston College and just ahead of #3 UMass. Terriers need one point or more today to lock up the #2 seed. 

The River Hawks, currently in seventh place with a 7-8-0 record, are coming off a sweep of Vermont in Burlington.They trail Northeastern for the sixth and final first-round bye in the playoffs, which will pair #7 vs. #10 and #8 vs. #9 in that first round. Merrimack, which had its planned series with Vermont cancelled, will not participate in the playoffs.

Lowell’s offense is led by two forwards with 11 points apiece: Los Angeles draft pick sophomore Anders Lee and junior Reid Stefanson. (Carl Berglund, who also has 11, had season-ending knee surgery). Junior Lucas Condotta has nine points, while Matt Brown (8) scored in each of the Vermont games. Juniors Chase Blackmun and Seth Barton anchor a veteran defense. Freshman Henry Welsch (2.77 GAA, .895 sv%) has made most of the starts in goal for Lowell, although Owen Savory, a transfer from RPI, has made six starts.

Sophomore Jay O’Brien, with nine points in his last five games, is now tied with senior assistant captain David Farrance for the Terrier scoring lead with 15. Captain Logan Cockerill and freshman Luke Tuch each have a 5-4-9 line, while a trio of Terriers—Robert Mastrosimone, Alex Vlasic and Max Kaufman—each have eight points.

Freshman Drew Commesso (2.75 GAA, .923 sv%) returned to action last weekend and stopped 52 of 55 shots against Merrimack in a relief effort Friday and a start on Saturday.

Kaufman who left Saturday’s game with an injury was termed “day-to-day” by Coach Albie O’Connell, who indicated some line-juggling may be needed. He also noted that the team had “worked on faceoffs individually and collectively as a group over this week just to try to iron some stuff out now from a coverage standpoint.”

CHECK BACK FOR TODAY’S BU LINE-UP

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, Terrier Sports Radio Network, BU Hockey Twitter

● Live stream LiveSports

● Coach O’Connell’s weekly press conference (video)

● WTBU Sports preview

● Boston Hockey Blog preview

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

Looking ahead

2021 recruit Brian Carrabes’ 13th goal was the game-winner in Sioux City’s 3-0 win against Des Moines. Carrabes leads the Musketeers in scoring with 28 points in 32 games and in goal-scoring.

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2022 recruit Jack Harvey scored a goal and added an assist in Chicago’s 6-3 win against Muskegon.

2023 recruit Jack Musa scored a power play goal and added two assists in the Odessa Jackalopes’ 5-4 loss to Wichita Falls. The Orange Park, Fla., native, who has a 3-5-8 line in 11 games, played for Trinity-Pawling (30 points) and North Jersey Avalanche 16U (29) last season.

 Looking back

Matt Nieto scored his fourth goal in San Jose's 5-4 overtime loss to Vegas. 

Jordan Greenway scored his fourth goal and added an assist in the Wild's 5-1 win against the Coyotes. Greenway is second in scoring for Minnesota with a 4-13-17 line. Clayton Keller scored his eighth goal for Arizona.

Charlie McAvoy assisted on a pair of goals and Matt Grzelcyk had a helper in the Bruins' 5-1 win against the Capitals.

Danny O'Regan is tied for the AHL Henderson Silver Knights' scoring lead with ten points in ten games.

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