By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff
Offense – B
After scoring two or fewer goals in each of its last three games, it may have been easy to question the BU offense. Saturday’s 3-3 tie with Merrimack didn’t solidly quiet all doubters, but it was a step in the right direction for the Terriers. In what BU coach Jack Parker would later call the goal of the game, sophomore forward Wade Megan got the scoring going with his first of the season with only 30 seconds left in the first period to cut two-goal Merrimack lead back down to one. Junior forward Chris Connolly would have to do the same thing in the third as he knocked home a bouncing puck in the third to make it 3-2 Warriors. Junior center Corey Trivino finished what his linemate had started with a poke past a sleeping Joe Cannata to tie at three with under five minutes to go in the third. The Terriers tallied those three goals on 29 shots with Megan’s netter coming on one of just four shots in the second frame. That evens out their average to three goals per game, good enough for third in Hockey East.
Defense – C+
The BU defense underwent a bit of a shuffle prior to the game with redshirt sophomore Ryan Ruikka moving up to the first unit with junior David Warsofsky while sophomore Max Nicastro moved down to the third pairing with classmate Sean Escobedo. After the game, Parker noted that he wanted to move the defensively-minded Ruikka up with the more offensive Warsofsky, and the pairing seemed to work. Ruikka was the only player on either side to notch a plus-2 rating with Warsofsky behind him at plus-1. However, Nicastro struggled a bit with his new assignment as he was caught making poor decisions, including going for the hit on Karl Stollery instead of heading back toward his own zone before Jesse Todd scored Merrimack’s third goal. Even freshman Adam Clendening got a little too cute with the puck at times and turned it over in all three zones on the ice. Still, Parker noted that he liked what he saw on the ice, even if the play didn’t always deserve such praise.
Goaltending – B
A “B” grade almost looks bad next to junior netminder Kieran Millan’s name nowadays, but that’s about what he deserved Saturday night. The three goals were the most he’s allowed since BU’s first tie of the season: a 3-3 stalemate against UMass on Oct. 22. The two power-play tallies he allowed in the first period are not entirely his fault, much less so on the first than the second. He had no more than a split second to react to Mike Collins’s tip right in front of him on the first shot of the night, but on the second goal, he allowed a juicy rebound on the left doorstep that forward Joe Cucci was able to knock without any BU defensemen in the vicinity. As for the third, it was just a simple one-on-one that Jesse Todd was able to sneak by the goalie. Millan actually looked better down the stretch, especially as the Terriers looked more and more likely to tie the game. His glove hand looked especially quick in the late minutes. In total, he made 34 saves on 37 shots and saw his season numbers move to a 1.92 goals-against average and .938 save percentage – still very impressive to say the least.
Special Teams – D
Here’s your stat of the night: After going 0-for-6 on the power play Saturday night, BU has scored just once in its last 34 man-advantages. That equates roughly to a 2.94 percent success rate in that period. That stings. What’s worse is that in their six power-play chances against Merrimack Saturday, the Terriers could only muster nine shots. Mind you, that’s against what has become the best penalty-killing unit in the country – Merrimack is No. 1 on the PK with a 93.8 percent kill rate and did an especially good job at blocking Terrier power-play shots – but nine shots in that situation is still shouldn’t be a point of pride against anybody. However, what brought BU’s special teams grade all the way down to the “D” level were the two early power-play goals for Merrimack. The Terriers entered the game with 32 straight successful penalty kills, but the streak ended right then and there as Collins was the one to take advantage of a slashing call on Warsofsky. Seventeen minutes later, Clendening’s boarding call led to Cucci’s tally. Luckily, the power-play-causing penalties for BU ended there, meaning the PK allowed Merrimack to go 2-for-2 on the man-advantage.
X-Factor – Trivino line
Because of its defensive prowess, Parker decided to start the Connolly-Trivino-Alex Chiasson line against Merrimack’s most offensive unit of Chris Barton-Stephane Da Costa-Todd, and the three Terriers were up to the task. They held Da Costa – who Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy is the best player in the conference – off the stats sheet completely (except for his minus-1 and six non-scoring shots). Heck, if Todd hadn’t been able to capitalize on Nicastro’s mistake in the second, then the threesome would have kept their Warrior counterparts off the board completely. If that wasn’t enough, they threw in some scoring as well. Each member of BU’s top line had two points (Connolly and Trivino with a goal and an assist while Chiasson assisted on each of the goals). What’s more the two goals from the line came when the Terriers needed them most as both Connolly and Trivino scored in the third to even the score at three. All around a solid night from three experienced players on a fairly young team.
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