BU men’s hockey finds a different way in 2-1 overtime win over New Hampshire

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 finally won 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 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.”