By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
Offense: C+
Merrimack’s Joe Cannata is one of the best goalies in Hockey East and boasts a .940 save percentage, but BU had plenty of chances Friday that it failed to capitalize on. Sophomore forward Ross Gaudet had the only BU goal of the night, and even that tally just barely went in on a weird bounce off his shoulder. The Terriers spent most of their time in the offensive zone either passing the puck or battling on the boards. Their night was epitomized by freshman forward Matt Nieto who, with less than 30 seconds to play, skated into the slot, paused, and then passed the puck to the boards. BU took its best shots in the first period, when the team combined for 11 Grade-A opportunities, but they just did not have the extra oomph needed to get the puck past Cannata.
Defense: B
Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy noted in his press conference how well BU blocked shots, and indeed they stopped 24 shots before they could ever reach Millan. The Terriers blocked all three shots that Merrimack attempted in overtime. The night was not completely clean for the Terriers. They gave up 26 of Merrimack’s 66 attempted shots from Grade-A territory, and there were a couple of very bad turnovers. Toward the end of the third period, freshman defenseman Adam Clendening edged past a Merrimack attacker to scoop up the puck, but then dangled the puck in front of his own net and made a panicked pass that Merrimack recovered, handing Merrimack three good scoring chances. BU, however, played strong defense for most of the night to hold Merrimack to only one goal.
Goaltending: A
Millan was on top of his game Friday once again. He seemed more focused and aware of the puck than he did last week, and he controlled his rebounds well. There was not much he could do on Merrimack’s goal. Millan was never searching for the puck the way he did against Maine, and he frustrated quite a few Warriors who took point-blank shots on him. Millan was undeniably the No. 1 star of the game.
Special Teams: B+
A lot of this grade belongs to the penalty kill, which has now killed off 32 consecutive penalties dating back to the game at UMass. The Terriers had to kill off 10 penalties on Friday and gave up 13 shots on those kills. In the first period, the Terriers did not give up a single shot on any of Merrimack’s three penalties. On the first penalty kill of the night, the Terriers had two shots on goal while Merrimack had none. The power play struggled to score again, but did manage 14 shots through seven power plays.
X-Factor: Physicality
Entering the game, Parker acknowledged that it would be a very physical night. He could not have predicted, however, 44 penalty minutes between the two teams. Even Parker was whistled for a penalty after he yelled at the officials for quite a bit in the first period. The amount of penalties greatly disrupted the flow of the game, and neither team was ever really able to find its rhythm and get anything going.
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