PROVIDENCE, R.I. — With the puck on his stick, Providence’s Hudson Malinoski had an opportunity to close out his team’s shootout upset over the third-ranked Terriers.
Malinoski slowly made his approach, juking his stick to try to disrupt Mathieu Caron’s puck tracking. As he got netfront, the freshman forward tapped in his attempt, catching the edge of Caron’s right knee-pad, and bouncing in five-hole to win the extra point in the third round of the shootout.
“A little bit of shooting ourselves in the foot again with mistakes, at this time of year [that] can’t happen,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame.
Behind a strong performance from Caron, the Terriers stuck in a game that could’ve been over in regulation given the fact that the Friars outshot BU by a large margin the entire game, ending the game with a 40-32 lead.
“I give them credit, they’re very well coached, very good defensive team. I thought the effort was there to try to get inside, but we still got to bear down even more,” Pandolfo said.
Providence grabbed an early 1-0 lead with a goal from junior forward Riley Duran four minutes into the first.
Senior forward Chase Yoder fired the puck from the left circle into the net after getting it from junior defenseman Guillaume Richard. The puck ricocheted off of Duran as he screened Caron netfront before it slid through the five-hole.
Around the halfway point of the period, the Terriers were down in SOG 5-2 and, despite the occasional quality offensive sequences, had spent most of the game parked in their defensive zone.
Amid BU’s attempt to wrestle out of its one-goal hole, freshman forward Macklin Celebrini was whistled for a slashing penalty at 13:52 of the first.
The Friars couldn’t get a quality look at the opening of their power play after losing the faceoff. While graduate Providence defenseman Luke Kyrs was attempting to regroup at the blue line, a speeding Nick Zabaneh outfought Kyrs for the puck and skated down ice for a breakaway shorthanded goal at 14:29 of the first.
— Boston Hockey Blog (@BOShockeyblog) February 17, 2024
“That was what we talked about, playing behind them, win a puck on the forecheck, get into the slot,” Pandolfo said on Zabaneh’s and the rest of the team’s ‘gritty’ goals.
Despite the Terriers tying up the matchup 1-1, they were still far outpaced in shots on goal by the end of the period, trailing the Friars 18-7.
Caron’s play kept the Terriers in it early in the second, making saves on high-danger chances for the Friars, including one where they had a 5-on-4 rush following a hard hit on Zabaneh.
“I thought [Caron] was really good,” Pandolfo said. “No surprises from how they play, they funnel everything to the net, and get to the net.”
BU opened the second aggressively with shots on goal, leading Providence 5-2 through the first seven of the new period, but couldn’t get anything to follow through.
After more strong offensive possessions, the Terriers broke through, opening up a 2-1 lead with a goal from graduate forward Sam Stevens. Freshman forward Jack Harvey found Stevens netfront, dished him the puck where he then dropped it in the left pocket of Phillip Svedeback’s net.
With six minutes left in the period, senior forward Dylan Peterson was sent to the box for hooking. The Friars quickly made good on their advantage, with freshman forward Tanner Adams scoring 20 seconds into the power play, tying the contest 2-2.
Adams’ goal was the seventh power play goal allowed by the Terriers in their last seven games. The Terriers currently rank in the thirties in the nation on their PK% with .810 on the season.
“It’s been fine,” Pandolfo said on the team’s penalty kill as of late. “I think that we’ve given up a few more goals than [when] we had a better stretch here for a while, but still I think the structure is good.”
After a hectic sequence to close out regulation, the two teams headed to overtime still knotted at two goals apiece.
BU had three shots to Providence’s six in overtime but could have had many more with a more aggressive approach. At several moments as OT drew to a close, Terrier skaters opted to draw out the clock instead of driving to the net.
“In 3-on-3, you’ve got to make sure that you’re taking a quality shot because you don’t want to miss the net and have it rim around and all of a sudden they’re in an odd man rush, you’ve got to be smart with the shots you take,” Pandolfo said on his team’s approach. “You want to possess the puck as long as you can and wait for the right opportunity.”
The Terriers missed all of their shots — from Quinn Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, and Lane Huston — in the shootout, while the Friars missed their first two. Malinoski got a goal on Providence’s attempt in the third round, grabbing the team the extra Hockey East point.
BU now has lost in back-to-back games, with a 3-4-1 record in their last eight.
“Obviously the last three weeks haven’t been great, that’s for sure, record wise, so we may have to shake some things up here,” Pandolfo said.
The Terriers will face off against the Friars Saturday night at Agganis Arena for the second game of the home-and-home series. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the Boston Hockey Blog will have full coverage of the matchup, so be sure to follow along on Twitter (X) @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.
the upperclassmen are this teams biggest liability by far. Put Wilmer on the Greene/Q. Hutson line. Very little chemistry there as it is. Then demote to the bottom of the depth chart everyone with a C or A except for Lane Hutson. Limit all ice time for the seniors (and especially the defensive grad students). There’s your core team for the stretch.
ALso tell Caron to STOP any and all attempts at puck handling. He’s a good goalie but good decisions with the puck are not his game.
No excuses. No sacred cows. Just W’s and L’s. Which do they want to be?
Brian good seeing you last night as well as the rest of the Boston hockey blog. I have been writing a bit more in the comments page but want to avoid what transpired a few years ago where if your opinion was not in the majority all the commenters attacked you. It took away from the great student press coverage of the team and the players. So I hope this doesn’t happen again
I’m a glass half full guy and no one loves this team more then I but we have big problems. Our problems are somewhat masked because we are so talented. If you watched our beanpot game you would have thought we dominated and we do have the effort everyone is trying everyone is a team player we have the attitude and desire to win we just can’t apply it for whatever reason all our dominance is to the outside we are not getting pucks to the net and we are not getting to the dirty areas enough to win . I think we are gripping the stick to tight and panicking offensively so we are reverting to old ways things that worked for kids 2 or 3 yrs ago won’t work in D 1 hockey. Bad habits are hard to break but if we can figure it out look out we can beat anyone.
I’m not panicking but I’m aware this team is in a bit of a free fall and as coach says all our woes are self inflicted with a few bad calls . If the effort was not there I would be more negative but these kids are trying they just need to buy in do the things they need to do to make the difference I’m hoping tonight is the night go bu
I wouldn’t characterize the terriers as being in free fall, they are just not the best team in college hockey and often struggle to score goals. Maybe it’s time to juggle the lines a bit as mark above suggests. Harvey with celebrini seemed to be a no brainer and I wonder why it took so long for panda to put them together. The important thing is that BU Isin the mix for hockey east tourney and the NCAA tourney, a situation which did not always exist just a few years ago. In the end success in college hockey is measured by winning tournaments. We lost the first one but we have surely more chances coming up. I am attending the game tonite vs providence so I can examine our heros again more closely.
Good Analysis Colin