By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff
Offense: B-
The Terriers had an alright night in the offensive zone. The squad outshot Northeastern by a 39-30 margin, but 19 of those shots came on their nine power-play chances. The team did get a goal from the fourth line, which should’ve been a huge boost considering Justin Courtnall, Ben Rosen and Kevin Gilroy had just five goals combined coming into the contest. But that wasn’t the case. The Terriers had some shots from in close, but shot into NU defenders 24 times and rarely challenged Husky goaltender Chris Rawlings on even-strength opportunities.
Defense: C+
The Terriers gave up four goals, and some of that was plain bad luck. Steve Silva’s second goal was an absolute fluke, as Adam Clendening’s would-be blocked shot turned into an own goal when the puck fluttered over Kieran Millan, who had positioned himself perfectly for the initial shot (think Colby Cohen’s 2009 national title winner over Miami goalie Cody Reichard). Otherwise, the Terriers allowed 14 grade-A chances –– 13 of which came in the first two periods before NU had stretched the lead to 4-1.
Special teams: C-
The Terriers might’ve gone an unimpressive 1-for-9 on the power play, but it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. BU tallied 19 shots on goal during their man-advantage time, and would’ve had many more of NU hadn’t been so proficient at blocking shots. At times, the BU power play looked dominant, especially with Charlie Coyle, Joe Pereira, and Sahir Gill up front with Clendening and Chris Connolly at the points. Still, there were also moments when the PP looked utterly lost, like during an abysmal second-period attempt where BU spent about 1:30 of the two-minute shift chasing the puck behind their own goal line.
Goaltending: C
Kieran Millan has had some really, really impressive games in net for BU, but this was not one of them. The junior did make a few remarkable saves, especially later in the second period to keep the deficit at three goals. But Millan’s rough start can’t be ignored. NU’s first three goals were all preventable offenses, even if Parker did complain about yet another post-faceoff screen set by NU on Silva’s first tally.
X-Factor: Can’t win a battle without your biggest guns
Parker picked out a few of his top players for recognition after the game. Namely, the coach said Joe Pereira had a strong game, with David Warsofsky also impressing considering it was his first game back after suffering a concussion. After that, the list drops off. The team’s leading scorer, Alex Chiasson, was kept clean off the scoresheet (though he did lead the team with six shots on goal), and his linemates Corey Trivino and Matt Nieto also failed to register points. Beyond that, it’s now been 13 games since Charlie Coyle has scored a goal, while linemate Chris Connolly has just two points in his last seven games.
Must stay out of the box the rest of this series
Sounds quite unimpressive… and the assessment of Kieran seems pretty spot on to me, except it applies to him all the time. He makes the great saves and some people think he’s the embodiment of god, but then he goes up and gives up fat rebounds all the time and if he doesn’t get lucky or his defensemen don’t clear them out fast enough he gives up real stinkers. Here’s to hoping he stands on his head tomorrow… and then continues to do so until April.
Millan is not the problem. He gets left out to dry a lot – as he was early in the game when he stopped two attempts where the trailer was left alone in following up a scoring attempt. He was not at his best last night but he did enough. The problem is – and has been offense. They have to score pure and simple. If they continue to try and stuff the puck in they will lose. How about picking a corner once and a while?Everything is an effort for this team. They just don’t have enough to make it look easy. Getting outworked in their own building is inexcusable.
If everyone hustled in both ends the way Connolly does this team would be way better off. His effort is there night after night.
What Anonymous said! Also, Sahir Gill is really looking pretty damn good.