Three up, three down: Northeastern’s forecheck dooms Terriers in 6-5 loss

The No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team’s third-period comeback wasn’t enough against the visiting Northeastern Huskies Friday night, and the Terriers turned in another overall poor performance in the 6-5 loss.

There were some bright spots, though, things BU (12-8, 9-5 Hockey East) will look to carry into tomorrow’s matchup with the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, also at Agganis Arena.

Here’s a quick look at what went right and what went wrong for BU.

Entering the third period down by three, the Terriers came out with three goals in less than seven minutes. Sophomore forward Evan Rodrigues got the first two, then freshman forward Danny O’Regan tied it up by poking a rebound by Northeastern goalie Chris Rawlings.

The Terriers came out of the locker room with a fire lit under them, played much more physically in the first half of the final frame and landed a few big but clean hits.

After O’Regan’s tally, though, Northeastern coach Jim Madigan took a timeout to settle his crew down.

It worked. The Huskies (7-10-2, 4-8-2 Hockey East) held BU scoreless the rest of the way and paved the way for some late dramatics of their own.

As Parker put it, “that game was a 60-minute game, not a six-minute game.”

Parker has insisted of late that he has not a first and second line but two first lines, and Friday vs. Northeastern his team gave him just that. Left wing Matt Nieto (1g, 1a), center O’Regan (1g, 2a) and right wing Rodrigues (2g, 2a) powered BU’s offense, and not only during the comeback

Although Nieto accrued the fewest points of the three, his first-period goal got the scoring started for BU.

He’s now collected six points (3g, 3a) in his last three games, and scored 12 points (5g, 7a) in 10 career games vs. Northeastern.

The Terriers went 3-for-6 and garnered 11 shots with the man-advantage Friday night, including a pair of power-play goals on back-to-back chances to give them what was at the time a 2-1 lead in the first period.

Both goals featured the scorer — first Nieto, then junior assistant captain Garrett Noonan — wide open, and both easily took advantage.

O’Regan’s game-tying tally in the third was also on the power play.

Although it didn’t do the Terriers any good in the end, the success on the man-advantage Friday represents an improvement over what the Terriers had done of late. BU had been just 1-for-15 on the power play in four games since Christmas.

The fact that BU has had a problem on defense lately is no secret — it has given up six goals in three of its five games since the team returned from break — and Friday night the pressure Northeastern put on BU’s blueliners didn’t help.

An unassisted goal from Northeastern’s star freshman forward, Kevin Roy, was just one example. It was the result of freshman defenseman Ahti Oksanen getting pressured behind BU’s net and spitting up the puck to Roy low in the slot.

“We put a lot of emphasis on our forecheck and Cody [Ferriero, Northeastern junior,] did a great job there,” Roy said. “We know the defensemen on BU are really skilled and they try to make plays, but sometimes they cough up the puck. It just came in front and I was there in the right place at the right time. It is all from a good forecheck.”

BU’s freshman goaltender — well, one of them — came into the game with a chance to put some room between himself and classmate Matt O’Connor if he could put up another standout performance.

He didn’t. Maguire gave up six goals, his most in any game this season. It was the first time he allowed more than two goals since he gave up three to North Dakota on Nov. 2.

The rough game upped his goals-against average to 2.39 and lowered his save percentage to .923.

Parker defended Maguire, saying he was “definitely a victim” of poor defense.

“He was playing with a team in front of him that was backing right into him,” Parker said.

It’s one thing to lose the way BU did — after coming back from a three-goal deficit — but it has to sting a little more with the former Terrier and current Northeastern captain getting the game-winning goal.

It was the second straight BU-Northeastern matchup in which Saponari netted the game-winner, the first being March 3, both teams’ 2011-12 regular-season finale.

Noonan was mum on the topic, and Parker “guaranteed” all the Huskies, Saponari included, get pumped up to play BU.

Vaponari was willing to spare a few more words.

“It is always fun. I have a lot of friends on the team still. I’m pretty close with everyone so there is always friendly banter back and forth,” he said. “To get a game-winning goal in any game is fun, but against your friends and your former team it was even funner. So it was good.”