BU power play, Merrimack penalty kill doom Terriers

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

“The numbers don’t lie,” the old saying goes, and Friday night at Agganis Arena that proved true in No. 4/6 Merrimack College’s 3-2 overtime win over the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team.

Entering the game, BU (3-4-1, 2-3-1 Hockey East) had one of the worst power plays in the conference, operating at just 11.1 percent. Merrimack (8-0-1, 6-0-1 Hockey East) was second-best in the conference, running at a 23.9 percent clip.

Unfortunately for the Terriers, when both of those trends stood up it spelled bad news for BU in the Warriors’ come-from-behind win.

In the early going, it looked like the statistics would be reversed and the BU power play would come out on top. After a Merrimack goal in the first period, sophomore defensemen Garrett Noonan crashed the net and was able to bang home a rebound at 11:40 on junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson’s shot. The power-play goal tied the game, and was one of eight power-play shots the Terriers were able to get off in the first period alone.

After that, though, Merrimack’s typically strong penalty kill kicked in and held the BU special team scoreless the rest of the way. The Terriers stopped moving the puck as well as the game progressed, and took just ten more shots on the power play all game, seven in the second period and three in the third.

BU’s lack of success on the power play was never more evident than during what should have been a five-minute man-advantage due to a hitting-from-behind major and game misconduct charged to Merrimack’s Kyle Bigos. The Terriers got a misleading six shots on net without really producing any strong offensive chances and allowed a short-handed attempt by Merrimack. Then, sophomore forward Matt Nieto took two minutes off of the five-minute advantage by unnecessarily bashing a Warrior player’s head into the goal post and earning a roughing call.

By the end of the night, when Merrimack forward Connor Toomey found the back of the net 22 seconds into overtime, BU was left with a 1-for-9 conversion rate on the man advantage, and countless missed opportunities for a third goal that would have pushed a Merrimack comeback closer to out of the question.

“That was the difference in the game, obviously,” said BU coach Jack Parker on his team’s lack of production. “I was happy with the way we moved the puck. We got chances. It was better earlier, but at the end we had a few too. I think when you get that many [power plays] you get worn out with the same guys, too, so we got a little tired.”

That said, the poor power play tonight wasn’t all on the Terriers. Much of the credit can be given – and indeed was given – to the Warrior penalty kill, which now has a 90.9 percent success rate, good for second in the conference and trailing only Boston College’s 91.2 percent rate.

For senior captain Chris Connolly, BU’s failure and Merrimack’s success is especially frustrating. The first-line left wing has tallied just four assists and zero goals on the year, totals that are even more disappointing given that he sees so much time when BU is 5-on-4.

Friday night, he recognized Merrimack’s determination on the PK, a facet of the game he wouldn’t mind the Terriers adopting.

“[The Warriors] like to eat pucks,” Connolly said. “If you get a team dedicated to blocking shots and helping out your goalie, it’s going to lead to a good penalty kill. Anytime they see somebody lining up they get three, four guys in front of it to block that shot. It’s something our team should take out of their book. They’re dedicated in doing that.”

As strong as the defensemen are, goaltender Joe Cannata anchors Merrimack’s penalty kill, a player that both Parker and senior goaltender Kieran Millan praised heavily the day before the game. Friday night, he proved he earned that praise, making 36 saves on 38 BU attempts.

Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy also spoke highly of his netminder.

“Like any penalty kill, it starts with your goalie,” Dennehy said. “I think Joe Cannata is the most underrated goaltender in the country.”

Still, BU hasn’t lost all hope. Parker has reiterated in recent weeks that his team can be good on both the power play and the penalty kill, and after Friday’s game Connolly expressed a similar sentiment, detailing Parker’s new philosophy.

“In the past [Parker] has a tendency [to say] he can’t make us creative but he can definitely take our creativity away. He said that himself,” Connolly said. “[Recently,] he likes to give us a blue print of some options that will relieve some pressure out there and then let us be creative.

“It wasn’t successful tonight, but I still think the way we’re going about it is the right way and we just need to keep practicing it and I think we’ll chip in a few here if we do the right things.”