BU men’s hockey wins third straight with 4-2 victory over UConn, but frustrations mount for unsatisfied Pandolfo

BOSTON — Once again, Jay Pandolfo’s postgame press conference began with a refrain that has defined the first weeks of the season for the Boston University men’s hockey team.

“I liked the result,” BU’s head coach said. “But…”

For the second week in a row, Pandolfo put emphasis on the “but.” The Terriers scraped out a 4-2 win over the University of Connecticut in Friday’s Hockey East opener, but Pandolfo was left scratching his head at his team’s inconsistent play.

“We are complicating our game,” Pandolfo said. “We got away with it again, so that’s the disappointing part. I don’t know why we’re making it so hard on ourselves, because you see it, when we simplify, play direct, it looks pretty good. But we just can’t stick to that script.”

It was a similar story to last Saturday’s 4-1 win over Union, when the Terriers allowed several Grade-A chances in the first period and left unsatisfied, despite a victory.

No. 3 BU (3-0-0, 1-0-0 HE) struggled to control play throughout the first period, and the Huskies (3-2-0, 0-1-0 HE) took advantage at 16:44. UConn captain Hudson Schandor blocked a slapshot in his own zone and wound up alone on a breakaway. Neither Gavin McCarthy nor Jack Harvey could backcheck in time, and Schandor slipped one through Mathieu Caron’s five-hole to make it 1-0. The tally marked the first time BU has trailed this season.

In his weekly media call on Thursday, Pandolfo highlighted the importance of getting off to a better start, saying the team must have a “mindset to make sure that we’re ready when the puck drops.”

It was nowhere to be seen in the first period, but the Terriers skated with an increased level of energy and focus to start the second.

It paid off 1:22 into the frame, thanks to an impressive individual effort from Cole Eiserman. The freshman forward picked up the puck at the bottom of the circle and cut to the net, flipping it in with a pretty backhand finish. Eiserman has now scored in each of his first three collegiate games, but this was his first at even strength.

He scored another in the third period, batting the puck past UConn goalie Tommy Heaney in traffic on the power play at 9:16. It was Eiserman’s first game with the Terriers’ third line, which reunited him with his former U.S. National Team Development Program linemate, Kamil Bednarik. The swap paid off, and Bednarik assisted Eiserman’s first goal.

“Bednarik and Eiserman have played a lot together, so that was kind of the reason I made the switch,” Pandolfo said.

But the fourth line of freshman Alex Zetterberg, freshman Brandon Svoboda and senior Tristan Amonte, which Pandolfo praised as a rare example of “playing a simple game,” remained together.

Those three combined for a tic-tac-toe passing play to set up Svoboda at the doorstep for his first collegiate goal at 16:26 of the second.

“They play north, they get pucks behind, if they have time and space to skate, they do,” Pandolfo said of the fourth line. “All three of them have been complementing each other very well.”

Senior forward Matt Copponi briefly exited for the locker room after he was crunched into the boards by UConn defenseman John Spetz at 9:07 of the third, although he returned later on. Spetz was called for a five-minute major and game misconduct after several minutes of review, and Eiserman scored his second a few ticks into the ensuing power play.

UConn’s Jake Percival responded with a shorthanded goal 44 seconds later to cut the Terriers’ lead in half, but sophomore defenseman Tom Willander put the game away with a key insurance tally at 17:43.

There were no other changes to the lineup besides Eiserman’s drop to the third line, which bumped senior Jack Hughes to the second. But though sophomore defenseman Aiden Celebrini was listed alongside grad student Brehdan Engum on the line chart, it was sophomore Mick Frechette — not Celebrini — playing with Engum from the second period on. Engum and Frechette are both left-shot defenseman, so Engum slid over to his offside to accommodate the pairing.

The Terriers will play Harvard in an exhibition at Agganis Arena tomorrow night. The puck drops at 7 p.m, and Pandolfo expects an increased level of intensity and effort.

“It’s going to be a great crowd, and I know the game doesn’t count, but we’ve got to come out and have a really good performance, because next weekend we’re going out to a pretty hostile environment, which is going to be new for a lot of these guys,” Pandolfo said. “So we’ve got to have a really good game tomorrow night.”