Men’s Hockey: Inconsistency plagues the Terriers as they fall 5-1 to the Northeastern Huskies

Featured image by Holly Gustavsen

By Ryan Owens

The No. 9/8 Boston University Terriers (17-12-1, 11-8-1 HE) fell to the Northeastern University Huskies (11-15-3, 6-10-3 HE), 5-1, at Agganis Arena on Friday night.

The loss largely came thanks to the dominance of Northeastern’s top line of Cam Lund, Jack Williams, and Dylan Hryckowian. The trio scored three of the team’s five goals on the night and would combine for nine points.

“We didn’t do a good enough job against them,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said. “It seemed like they could do whatever they wanted.” 

The game was marked by chippiness and a solid performance by Huskies goaltender Cameron Whitehead, who saved 24 of the 25 shots he faced.

The teams would get scrappy early in the match, resulting in Northeastern forward Cristophe Tellier going to the box for cross-checking and giving BU the first powerplay early. Beyond a one-timer from Jack Hughes, the man advantage was largely insignificant.

The Huskies took advantage of a 4-on-3 opportunity after a rapid succession of penalties, as Lund was waiting at the right faceoff dot for the set play. Lund received the puck from Williams, wound up a wrister, and beat goaltender Mikhail Yegorov’s blocker, resulting in a 1-0 Northeastern lead late in the first that would carry into the intermission.

The Huskies controlled the play for much of the early second period, culminating in Williams getting the puck to Lund once again in the slot, who would rip the puck past Yegorov. Lund’s second goal of the game resulted in the Terriers falling to a 2-0 deficit.

BU would find themselves with several high-quality chances to get back in the game, but solid defense by the Huskies and better goaltending by Whitehead would halt each one.

Gavin McCarthy took a slashing penalty, giving Ryan McGuire the space in the slot to rip the puck over Yegorov’s shoulder to extend Northeastern’s lead to 3-0 and give them their second powerplay goal of the game. 

“We just didn’t kill enough plays,” Pandolfo said of the team’s penalty kill. “We let them have a little bit too much zone time, and they capitalized on it.”

The Huskies’ Hryckowian would have a breakaway chance followed by an opportunity on a penalty shot, but each was stopped by Yegorov.

BU finally got on the board during a stretch of 4-on-4, as Cole Hutson found his brother Quinn, who ripped the puck past Whitehead to score his 18th goal of the season and cut the Terriers’ deficit to 3-1.

This excitement would be short-lived, as Jack Williams found the back of the net to extend the Huskies’ lead back to 4-1. This score would hold as the buzzer sounded to send the teams to the second intermission.

Seconds into the final frame, Northeastern defender Jake Boltmann called for the puck as his team entered the offensive zone, taking the drop pass and clapping the puck into the net to extend the lead 5-1.

The better part of the rest of the third went by without much fanfare, as BU would fail to maintain any pressure while Northeastern intentionally played a defensive-style game.

The Terriers generated some dangerous chances in the offensive zone in the dying minutes, including spending the final seconds on the powerplay. But the effort would be too little too late in a game that was already far out of reach.

“We’ve got to be ready to play tomorrow,” Pandolfo said. “We’ve got to turn the page.”

BU will look to bounce back against the Huskies on Saturday night at Northeastern’s Matthews Arena. The game will be available on ESPN+.