Missed scoring opportunities doom Terriers

By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff

In the third period of No. 2 Boston University’s 4-2 loss to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell Saturday night, junior forward Justin Courtnall fed a picture-perfect pass through the slot to the blade of freshman forward Evan Rodrigues’ stick. Rodrigues was standing at the edge of the crease with the entire net waiting in front of him when Courtnall fed him the pass, but the puck didn’t make solid contact with the stick.

Instead, Rodrigues whiffed at the puck as it slid away into the corner rather than into the net. A goal there would have narrowed BU’s deficit at the time to 3-2. Instead, the Terriers continued to face a two-goal deficit from which they would never recover.

“Rodrigues had that one at the pipe and I think at that point it was 3-1, and that would have made it 3-2 which would have been a completely different look on the game,” said BU coach Jack Parker.

Rodrigues’s opportunity was just one of many missed chances on the night for the Terriers. BU’s inability to finish plays Saturday night stood as almost a polar opposite of Friday night’s 7-4 win over Lowell, in which the Terriers scored seven goals and converted on almost all of their chances.

“We got seven last night and we didn’t have as many good chances,” Parker said. “Sometimes the puck jumps in the net for you, and sometimes you’re not as sharp as you would like to be. Some of it had to do with [UMass-Lowell goaltender Doug] Carr and some of it had to do with us maybe being anxious, maybe being rushed, maybe having bad luck tonight. But I’ll take all those chances again and see if they go in next time.”

Despite attempting 88 shots and putting 41 of those on net, the Terriers only scored twice on Carr. Lowell’s sophomore netminder made 39 saves, including 21 saves on 22 shots (and 44 attempted shots) in the third period alone.

While Carr played well in the game, the biggest problem for the Terrier offense was tapping in chances right at the goalmouth. There were at least four chances, including gift-wrapped opportunities for Rodrigues and junior forward Wade Megan, in which the Terriers could not make the solid stick-on-puck contact necessary to slip the puck into a wide-open net.

Along with the easy tap-ins, the Terriers failed to convert on various odd-man rushes, including a 4-on-1 and two 3-on-1s in the second period. Instead of spreading out and making clean passes, the players got caught bunching together and did not use the space available to capitalize on their advantage in numbers. BU did not get a good scoring chance on any of those three odd-man rushes.

Even when not on an odd-man rush, BU had plenty of good looks. The team took 15 shots from within the hashmarks of the circles, two of which hit off the posts. 

“It was just one of those nights. I guess we didn’t have the puck luck going for us. Last night it seemed like every chance we had we scored, but we were off it tonight,” said junior forward Ross Gaudet. “That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

Some of the credit for the lack of offense for the Terriers goes to the Riverhawks’ defense though, as they made it difficult to get clean shots off in the game. Lowell blocked 21 shots in the game, and forced 24 BU shots wide of the goal.

“Their defense, they blocked a lot of shots, but at the same time we just didn’t bury them,” Gaudet said.

Gaudet was part of the reason BU’s offense was not shut out in tonight’s game, as he and junior defenseman Max Nicastro both netted goals. Gaudet’s goal came in the second frame off a hard pass from redshirt freshman forward Yasin Cissé to the slot, which he deflected to the top-right corner of the goal. Nicastro’s came a little over halfway through the third period, when he blasted a slap shot on the power play over Carr’s shoulder.

But aside from those two goals, BU spent much of the night frustrated and coming up empty in the attacking zone.

“We had a number of opportunities and it was amazing the puck didn’t go in the net in the third period,” Parker said. “The goalie made some saves, but we had open nets that we didn’t put in.”