Pluses & Minuses: Tired Terriers can’t complete sweep

Saturday-night doldrums and 90s music filled Agganis Arena Saturday night as the Boston University men’s hockey team struggled in the second game of a weekend series with the No. 17 University of Vermont.

In what could have served as the team’s first weekend sweep since the opening weekend of play, however, turned into a 6-2 loss only highlighted by one player’s first regular-season appearance.

“You guys have watched this all year,” said BU coach David Quinn. “We play our best players so many minutes on Friday night, there might be a correlation with what’s been happening on Saturday night.”

Here’s a closer look at what went wrong – and the limited things that went right – for the Terriers.

Minuses

The power play
Before the Terriers even gave up their league-worst eighth shorthanded goal of the season, the team struggled to produce with the man advantage.

Over the course of approximately 40 minutes during the game, the Terriers spent twelve minutes on the power play. During those 12 minutes, the team had a total of eight shots on goal.

The most offensively productive power play came just after the Terriers had cut the score to 4-2. Unlike its other chances earlier in the game, BU managed to set itself up and take a few shots instead of chasing down the puck in its defensive zone.

The team had two advantages where they did not manage a single attempt on goal. One those power plays led to a shorthanded tally by Vermont center Chris McCarthy.

“I thought our power play hurt us, because we had some power plays at key times in the game, and not only did we not score, we didn’t really control the play much throughout those power plays,” Quinn said. “I just thought from start to finish [Vermont was] the better team.”

The defense… and Maguire
Since coming in to relieve classmate Matt O’Connor in goal a few times at the start of the second semester, Sean Maguire had staked his claim to the No. 1 goaltender spot. Friday night, Maguire even picked up his second win of the season – the first time he has won a game since the season opener.

Saturday night, however, Maguire gave up six goals, a few of which were on the softer side. The netminder cannot take all the blame, however, as the defense had plenty to do with a few of those tallies.

Right after the third period began, Catamount right wing Brady Shaw won a battle with senior captain Garrett Noonan along the boards. He then wrapped the puck around the net and slipped it by Maguire untouched.

“You cannot fault these guys for how much they care and how much they want to win,” Quinn said of Noonan. “Our depth sometimes gets in the way. … You play as many minutes as he does, guys are going to get beat. That’s going to happen.”

Pluses

Moccia’s time
When Maguire gave up his sixth goal of the game, Quinn seemingly had two options – leave him in for the final 3:46 or let O’Connor take his place. Quinn didn’t go with either.

Instead, he sent senior Anthony Moccia into his first regular season game, and, for the first time since puck drop, Agganis filled began to wake up.

BU spent the majority of the time Moccia was in goal on the penalty kill, but the Terriers’ defense blocked almost every shot attempt. With less than a minute left in the period, Moccia made his first career save.

The only other time the third-string goalie has played in a game was during BU’s exhibition against St. Francis Xavier on Oct. 5. Moccia stopped all seven shots that he faced during his one period of play.

O’Regan on the wing
In just his second game playing on the right wing, Danny O’Regan continued to find success. Much like Friday night, O’Regan scored the Terriers’ first goal of the game.

While Friday’s goal was a near-perfect passing play with his linemates, Saturday’s was all O’Regan as the sophomore’s initial pass was blocked by a diving Catamount. O’Regan then picked up the blocked shot and placed it by the Vermont’s Mike Santaguida.

O’Regan now leads the team in goals with eight.