Terriers on 5-on-3s

Couple quick updates before we get to the juicy stuff:

-I’ll be posting postgame videos from last night as soon as I wrap up this post. Sorry to be a bit behind schedule on that.

-We’ll have a full recap with a pair of siders for you in the FreeP Monday morning, so be sure to look out for those.

-Lastly, just want to thank everybody for your readership all year. I know I speak for Scott and Cary when I say that we’ve had a blast getting you guys all the info we can. The live blogs have been a big success, and that’s just as much a credit to you guys who flip to the page and follow along as it is to us. The best part of those things are the discussions we get to have, and I already can’t wait for October to roll around to get back in The Greek and bring you guys the best coverage we’re capable of.

Now, as a reward for your readership, I spent some time this afternoon going back over the box scores from this season. We’ve had a lot of people ask about BU on 5-on-3s this year, and especially in light of how last night’s second period went against Maine, decided to go through and check out the Terriers’ success rate.

Now, before I post everything, keep in mind that BU’s power-play conversion rate for the season was a respectable 19.1 percent (42-of-220).

Below is a list of all the 5-on-3 chances BU compiled this year, along with the opponent they got the chance against, the length of the 5-on-3, and a Y or an N signifying whether BU converted on the two-man advantage. If BU got more than one chance in the same game, each individual 5-on-3 is separated by a dash.

Notre Dame, 1:03, N
Michigan, :08, N
Northeastern, :38, N
Merrimack, 3:36, N – :20, N
Merrimack, :29, N – :54, Y
Harvard, :56, N
Cornell, :38, N
Boston College, 1:08, N
UNH, 2:00, N
Northeastern, :09, N
UMass-Amherst, :10, N
Providence, :59, N
Merrimack, 1:13, Y
BC, :31, N
Providence, :45, N
Vermont, :07, N
Northeastern, 1:17, N
Northeastern, :07, N
Merrimack, :12, N – :1:01, N – :08, N
Maine, :54, N

If you go on those totals, BU got 24 5-on-3 chances, averaging 50.1 seconds per chance, and converted just twice –– both times against Merrimack. That 2-for-24 mark is an 8.3 percent conversion rate.

If you take out the five instances where BU’s 5-on-3s were less than 10 seconds, BU was 2-for-19 on the 5-on-3, or a 10.5 percent conversion rate.

Among the kills that stand out are the 3:36 of consecutive 5-on-3 time BU had against Merrimack on Nov. 13. You might recall that was the game at Merrimack where their scoreboard had a major malfunction and the clocks stopped working. The players were being directed when to leave the box by somebody at ice level, and we –– being the media and the players on the benches –– had no idea how much time was left on the run of penalties Merrimack had taken.

For some perspective, BU allowed 6 5-on-3 goals for the season, though I haven’t counted up the chances or minutes for their opponents. We have remarked all year about how strong the BU 5-on-3 PK has been, so it wouldn’t surprise me if their opponents’ conversion rate is rather low, as well. If there’s some real interest out there, I’ll go through and try to count up those minutes at some point.

Last fun thing to keep in mind –– BU scored a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal on Jan. 2 against UMass when Eric Gryba flipped a puck from behind the BU goal line all the way to the other end and into an empty net near the end of the game. So BU scored half as many goals two (and really, three with the goalie pulled) men down as they did two men up.