HAMDEN, Conn. — There isn’t a tunnel with direct access to the road team’s bench here at M&T Bank Arena, so visiting teams instead have to skate — or walk, if you’re a coach — all the way to a tunnel behind one of the goals. It’s a long walk back to the locker room for Quinnipiac’s opponents.

It likely would’ve felt quite a bit longer for Jay Pandolfo, Joe Pereira and Kim Brandvold on Saturday afternoon.

A week after the Boston University men’s hockey team hoped it had taken a step forward with a sweep of Merrimack, the Terriers were shelled by the No. 10 Bobcats in a 6-2 defeat, yet another episode in what has been a frustrating Fall semester. The No. 13 Terriers fell to 5-6-1, and 1-6 against ranked opponents.

BU was outshot, 49-33, the most shots on goal it’s given up since Pandolfo’s regime took over in 2022-23.

Here are four takeaways from the loss:

Quinnipiac skated circles around BU in the first

That was easily the worst period the Terriers have played all season. The Bobcats scored just 3:06 into regulation, stemming from a brutal neutral zone turnover by senior forward Owen McLaughlin. Quinnipiac doubled its lead at 10:51 and made it 3-0 at 14:07.

The Bobcats finished the opening frame with 25 shots on goal; BU finished with eight. Freshman goaltender Mikhail Yegorov stopped 22 shots in the first, and he was beaten cleanly on every Quinnipiac goal. He was the only reason the score wasn’t worse after 20 minutes.

The Terriers couldn’t break out of their own zone, and when they did, they couldn’t keep control of the puck — it was a lot of dumping and not chasing.

BU’s three freshman blueliners — Carter Amico, Malte Vass, and Charlie Tretheway — struggled mightily in the first period. The Bobcats used their speed to beat them to the outside and cut back in.

The Terriers increased their urgency late in the frame, finally stringing together quality shifts in the offensive zone, but when the first-period buzzer sounded, they had nothing to show for it. — Eli Cloutier

Roukounakis made an impact is his season debut

Sophomore forward Nick Roukounakis returned to the ice for his first game of the season after sustaining an injury during the preseason.

Last season he broke into the bottom six, consistently, half way through the year as a two-way forward who was unafraid to assert himself physically.

During the first period, when the Terriers desperately needed momentum, he was willing to use his size to his advantage, inserting his body into puck battles and throwing heavy hits.

Offensively, he contributed to BU’s longest period of sustained offensive-zone time at the end of the first frame, and during the second, he set up numerous quality chances for his linemates, Jonathan Morello and Ben Merrill.

He scored the second goal for the Terriers after Merrill broke out of the neutral zone and slotted a back-handed pass to Roukounakis, who found the net from the blue line. — Hannah Connors

BU again struggled against quality competition

The Terriers’ goals for this season are no secret. They expect to be competing for a national title — that’s the bar Pandolfo has set after leading BU to three Frozen Fours in his first three seasons as head coach. His fourth team was billed as perhaps the most talented in the country and started the season second in the USCHO poll.

But now over a month into the season, the Terriers have yet to prove they can outclass the nation’s best competition. In a marquee series against Michigan State — now the No. 1 team in the country — BU was swept. Over the following two weekends, BU split with UConn (which included an 8-4 loss) and was swept by Maine, the two Hockey East finalists from last season.

And then there was Saturday. Quinnipiac is one of the country’s best teams, and the Terriers looked like they didn’t even belong on the same sheet of ice. They were outplayed in every area and were lucky the scoreline was only 6-2. BU lacked the physicality, maturity and discipline to compete with a quality team — which has been a theme throughout this season. The Terriers have all the talent in the world. It won’t matter if they don’t play “the right way,” a phrase Pandolfo has consistently used.

The Bobcats’ student section showered BU with “overrated” chants in the first period. It’s hard to argue with them right now. — Sam Robb O’Hagan

The Terriers’ special teams struggled

The penalty kill has been an area of pride for BU thus far through 11 games, but on Saturday afternoon, it struggled. Quinnipiac scored two power-play goals in the second period.

The Terriers’ ultra-aggressiveness led to too many clean looks for the Bobcats on the man advantage. BU also struggled to clear the zone, as Quinnipiac forechecked effectively with the extra skater. But the Terriers did score their first goal shorthanded when sophomore defenseman Cole Hutson fed junior forward Jack Harvey on a 2-on-1.

Sophomore forward Cole Eiserman returned to the lineup after his four-game absence. Without its leading goal scorer, BU struggled to generate on the power play. Other than one Eiserman one-timer that resulted in a spectacular save by Bobcats junior netminder Matej Marinov, the Terriers struggled once again. They finished 0 for 6 in the contest. — Cloutier