BOSTON — Coming into Saturday night’s clash with New Hampshire, the Boston University men’s hockey team had scored at least four goals in all 12 of its wins.
But when BU’s high-octane offense struggled to find the back of the net against the Wildcats, the Terriers found a way to win in a different fashion.
Mathieu Caron came up clutch with 34 saves and BU buckled down defensively and on the penalty kill to stave off a furious UNH rally in the third period and force overtime.
That set up Ryan Greene’s winner a minute into the extra frame, which cemented a 2-1 victory and second consecutive Hockey East sweep for the league-leading No. 11 Terriers (13-7-1, 9-3-1 Hockey East).
“I was happy with the response tonight,” said BU head coach Jay Pandolfo. “But I thought we were much better defensively.”
Caron — who has had his ups and downs this season — was at his best. New Hampshire head coach Mike Souza said his team’s plan was to funnel traffic to the net and force the senior netminder to make stops.
Caron was up to the challenge, making several key saves — including many in the third period with the Wildcats pressing for a go-ahead tally — and controlling rebounds at a high clip.
“I saw the puck,” Caron said. “It’s pretty much as simple as that. You see just enough to see it the whole way. They did a really good job of crashing the net and getting bodies in front. I was just seeing it.”
Pandolfo conceded that his goalie “had higher expectations for himself than how he played in the first half,” but that he “has his confidence back.”
“We need that,” Pandolfo added.
The kill was also excellent, another area of weakness from the Terriers’ shaky first half.
BU continued its season-long parade to the penalty box, taking six more penalties on Saturday, but the Terriers killed all of them. That’s a welcome sign for Pandolfo and special teams guru Joe Pereira, since BU entered with the 11th-worst penalty-kill in the nation at 75%.
Pandolfo attributed the recent improvement to an extra focus on that area in practices after a 7-5 loss to Yale on Dec. 29.
“We worked on the penalty kill every day,” Pandolfo said. “We probably didn’t spend enough time working on the penalty kill in the first half of the season. That’s a point of emphasis for us in practices.”
He added that BU’s recent practices have featured “more competitive drills,” including 1-on-1 work and a focus on winning battles.
“I don’t think I did a good enough job of getting guys to practice a certain way so we could play a certain way,” Pandolfo said. “And that was the mindset after the Yale game. We had a lot of time to practice, to work on things.”
Even if Saturday wasn’t the offensive clinic that other wins this season have been, the Terriers still showed off moments of goal-scoring brilliance.
Down 1-0 in the second after sophomore forward Nick Ring scored at 8:27 of the first, Cole Eiserman tied it up with a one-timer from the right circle on the power play, which overwhelmed UNH goalie Jared Whale and rippled the net at 7:45 of the second. It was the freshman’s team-leading 13th goal of the season, 12 of which have come at Agganis Arena.
Then came Greene’s overtime winner, which the junior captain scored off a perfectly-executed give and go with Jack Harvey. The pair have developed an apparent chemistry from playing together on BU’s new-look top line of late, and it paid off once again.
“I can kind of feel what he’s going to do with the puck and where he wants to go and work off him,” Greene said of the goal postgame. “That play was a prime example of Harv making the right play, like he usually does.”
The sweep gives the Terriers (28 points) a two-point edge over second-place Boston College (26) in the Hockey East standings before the rivals face off for a home-and-home series next weekend. That matchup should provide a measure of where BU stands in the hierarchy of Hockey East — and, for that matter, the nation.
“I don’t think our approach changes, but obviously a lot more intensity in that series,” Greene said. “Really high quality team and top again in PairWise this year. So we’re excited to get an opportunity to try and beat them.”
Great to get a W even though they didn’t play their best! Sometimes you just need to take care of business. Good to see Caron play well. He’ll be needed next weekend. Let’s enjoy 1st place for now. TK out!
If you were Pando, when would you insert the Russian goalie? it would be baptism by fire if he played against BC. Not saying that is a bad thing
other people’s thoughts ?
I wouldn’t do it until Caron’s play warrants a change — and definitely not for the BC series or the Beanpot, IMO.
No matter how talented (and tall) Yegorov is, there’s always going to be an adjustment period from juniors to the highest levels of D1 hockey. Plucking him from the worst team in the USHL and immediately tossing him into the net for BU’s biggest games of the season feels like too drastic of a move to me.
I also think Caron’s recent play warrants some trust from the coaching staff. He’s been excellent since the Yale game, and his confidence seems to be in a good place right now. Maybe you give Yegorov a start or two if Caron starts to struggle again, but I think you ride it out with Caron until a change seems necessary.
When we asked in last week’s media call, Pando said there were “many factors” that went into Yegorov’s enrollment this semester — without divulging what those factors were. I’m sure BU’s shaky goaltending in the first half was part of it, but getting Yegorov out of Omaha (3 coaches in 1 year, awful record) may have been the bigger reason. At the very least, though, Yegorov’s presence in the goalie room should push Caron to be better. Excited to see how it plays out!
I think you have to ride or die with Caron. It’s a tough schedule here on out.
Michael Jordan is quoted as saying, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships”
The BU hockey team will rise to any challenges to win championships with their “Fast & Furious” teamwork and Intelligence. GO BU!
also, they they keep taking these dumb penalties, they will get routed next weekend. squealed by against UNH on Sat. it will be a different story against the high flyin’…
I understand it’s free press, and you have a valid point. Hopefully, your language choice shows some respect for the BU hockey team.
But I couldn’t agree with every penalty decision made for terriers last night. Regardless, as coach Pandolfo noted, we successfully defended all penalties and are now leading the Hockey East league.
Another great weekend, at least results wise, for the Terriers. Four victories in a row is a good omen going into probably the most important home and home series this season. The good passing and playmaking continued again this weekend as well as timely goals at critical stages. Cole H. and Eiserman seem to be regenerated players after their all star performance at the World juniors. I thought that last night the Terriers were able to keep their cool against a UHH team that was pushing and crosschecking our guys most of the night hoping for retaliations. UNH also employed a tough 3 man trap defensively behind their blue line which made it tough to penetrate, however Eiserman’s bomb on the PP to tie the game in the 2nd period had little problem penetrating the UNH net. There were some bad penalties taken by the Terriers late in the game but they were able to survive and now they have killed off 13 of the last 14 penalties they have taken. I guess the more you have to do something the better you get at it.
Let me change the word “dumb” to “ill-advised.”
how’s that, Bon Koo?
Where is Colin?
I’m here just enjoying the teams play. I usually only comment when the team is under attack. I have been to every game. I do agree we need to play in the moment we need to stay out of the box. I want us to shoot more as well I think we held on to the puck too much the other night. No one has a better shot then Eiserman keep getting him the puck . Overall we are playing better just need to keep listening to coach and play our game
Badly out played and out shot.
62 stole the game for us