By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff
Six Gun City
Earlier this season, Boston University coach Jack Parker called out his top lines, saying his top six forwards needed to play better at both ends of the ice.
That hasn’t been a problem in the second semester. The Terriers’ top trio of senior Zach Cohen, sophomore Corey Trivino and freshman Alex Chiasson has turned into a great defensive unit that Parker has matched up against most opponents’ top lines.
Friday night, they completely shut down one of the best lines in Hockey East, limiting the University of Maine’s top threesome of sophomore Brian Flynn, junior Tanner House and sophomore Gustav Nyquist to no goals and a combined minus-6 rating.
“Trivino’s line played against Nyquist’s line almost the whole night, and I thought they did a really good job against them,” Parker said.
That line also created two goals of its own. After a great deke and pass by junior defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, Cohen banged home Chiasson’s rebound to make it 5-3 BU. Later in the third, Trivino won a draw to Cohen, who then found sophomore defenseman David Warsofsky for a slap shot that beat freshman goalie Shawn Sirman.
Meanwhile, BU’s second line of sophomore Ross Gaudet, junior Nick Bonino and junior Joe Pereira continued racking up goals. With its six points Friday night –– two goals for Gaudet, a goal and an assist for Bonino and two assists for Pereira –– that trio has now combined for 16 points in the five games its played together. They were a combined plus-9 against Maine.
“Bonino can produce with anybody,” Parker said. “He kind of lifts other people. I was upset that every time I put someone with Nick, they slowed down and tried to make nifty plays. Nick’s the guy who makes nifty plays. They should keep going. I really thought that Ross and Joe don’t slow down, so they’d help him out.”
“Nick’s obviously one of the best playmakers in the country,” said Gaudet, whose 33.3 shooting percentage is higher than four BU men’s basketball players. “And then Joe’s one of the hardest workers. Just having Nick on the ice is a big deal, so defenses obviously look at him because they’ve seen what he’s done in the past. That opens the ice up for me and Joe a little bit.”
An Answer for Everything
The Black Bears appeared to be shifting the game’s momentum in their favor when they scored two goals 2:17 apart to tie the game up in the second period. Instead, the Terriers stole it right back with a pair of their own to close out the stanza.
First, sophomore Vinny Saponari collected a rebound from sophomore Chris Connolly’s point shot and roofed the puck over a sprawling Scott Darling. Then Bonino took a pass from freshman Max Nicastro, faked a pass to Gaudet and beat Darling glove-side to make it 4-2.
“We were right back in it,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “But it was disappointing that after we tied it up, we let our guard down. We took a penalty that cost us, and they took the lead. Then that late goal, Bonino’s, really put the knife in there.”
“I think guys did a good job tonight of really not getting rattled,” BU junior Colby Cohen said. “Even at 2-2, I think guys really started playing composed. We kind of put our foot down on the pedal right at 2-2 and sort of took the game over.”
Maine cut the lead to 4-3 early in the third, but once again there was no sustained momentum to be found. Zach Cohen made it 5-3 a minute and a half later. Then Colby Cohen made it 6-3 a mere 22 seconds after that. Warsofsky’s goal three minutes later turned the game into a 7-3 laugher.
“I think this team’s gotten to the point where they’re pretty confident,” Parker said. “This team’s gotten to the point where they don’t get down when somebody scores on us.”
D’d Up
Maine attempted 63 shots Friday night, but only 11 were from grade-A areas. The Terriers were able to consistently force the Black Bears to the outside and get in shooting lanes, finishing the game with a remarkable 24 blocked shots.
“They defended better, they blocked more shots, they took more hits and they protected their goalie better than we did,” Whitehead said. “It’s going to be difficult to win when they’re better than us in all of those areas.”
“I think, as a whole, the D was pretty solid tonight,” Colby Cohen said. “They had a lot of line rushes that we really played correctly and kept them to the outside.”
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