Men’s Hockey: Terriers survive weekend series against Maine, finishing the back-end with a shootout win

Featured image by Joe Eachus

By Claire Smieszny

ORONO, Maine – When the lights shone the brightest, and arguably with the season on the line at the Alfond, BU bounced back.

Boston University men’s hockey (5-5-1, 2-2-1 HE) defeated the University of Maine Black Bears (7-2-2, 4-2-2 HE) 3-2 in a shootout win on Saturday night to split the weekend series.

“This is a tough place to play,” coach Jay Pandolfo said post-game. “This can give your group confidence, sticking with it being down 2-1 for quite a stretch. They kept coming and kept pushing to find a way.”

Both teams carried the intensity from last night’s game over and hit the ground running, playing physically and getting on each other. Maine edged out the Terriers and strung together a couple of close chances through offensive pressure, and BU had to scramble to get sticks on the puck and keep it out of goaltender Mathieu Caron’s crease.

The Terriers eventually caught up to speed, generating some offense and sustaining time in Maine’s zone. BU’s grind paid off, as halfway through the period, freshman forward Cole Eiserman found the rebound of Kamil Bednarik’s shot off of goaltender Albin Boija. Eiserman tapped it past Boija’s right pad for his seventh goal of the season and to get the lead for the first time this series.

Maine responded with an offensive siege in BU’s zone as they were relentless in their effort to find an equalizer. BU’s defense had a response to all of their attempts to get on net, and their shot count sat at only four through 15 minutes of play.

The Black Bears got their opportunity and took it when sophomore defender Gavin McCarthy went to the box for a tripping minor. A shot from graduate student forward Lynden Breen got lost in traffic after being blocked in front and emerged while Caron was out of position for senior forward Nolan Renwick to flip the puck up and over to tie the game.

The second period started as a competition of cheap shots until Eiserman was called for tripping 3:56 into the period.

BU’s penalty kill rebounded from its failure in the first period and successfully held the Black Bears to three shots on goal, reestablishing their defense.

“We just wanted to make sure we could be aggressive,” Pandolfo said. “They throw everything to the net. We wanted to make sure that we were blocking shots, and our guys did a really good job of doing that…They did have some zone time, there’s no question. But for the most part, we did a good job keeping them to the outside.”

The Terriers got their first chance on the man advantage shortly after but couldn’t generate any offense. The majority of their time on the power play was spent in their own end, scrambling to recover the puck after too many lazy giveaways and miscommunications in the neutral zone.

BU was given no time to breathe after the Black Bears returned to even strength, as they came back to assault the Terrier defense and pull ahead. Freshman forward Oscar Komarov faked out Caron in front of his left pad and passed it across the crease to sophomore forward Anthony Calafiore, who was wide open and slipped the puck in backdoor. It was 2-1 Maine with half the game left to play.

The second period concluded with the teams exchanging multiple penalties, as BU showed more frustration at the score and Maine got more pushy around the net, looking for rebounds.

The third period began with both teams struggling to gain control of the puck. BU managed to kill off the remaining penalties held against them, but even after, they still seemed stunned by Maine’s fast-paced play and heavy forechecking.

On a stroke of luck, with 20 seconds left in the third, Boija couldn’t locate the puck after a shot from freshman defender Cole Hutson. Sophomore captain Shane Lachance found it on the rebound and sent past an unsuspecting Boija to send the game to overtime.

“Honestly, kind of a nice shot in six on five,” Lachance said. “You gotta get to that, you know it’s gonna be a greasy goal. Kind of lucky it popped right onto my stick and the goalie didn’t see it, but that one feels good.”

Overtime ran down, with each team exchanging shots on net without success. Maine had its best chance on a 2-on-1 in front of a gassed Tom Willander, but Caron stood tall between the pipes for the Terriers. The five minutes wound down, and the game extended to a shootout.

After three null rounds in the shootout, Ryan Greene secured the win for the Terriers with a fake and flipping the puck over Boija’s left shoulder.

“I thought it was a hard fought game both ways,” Pandolfo said. “Got to credit our guys for just sticking with it. They did a good job defensively.”

The Terriers will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 22, against a division opponent in Merrimack College at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., with streaming available on ESPN+.