Home ice disadvantage

More often than not in hockey, the team that wins the battles down around the net is the team that wins the game. Saturday night was no exception.

The No. 8/9 University of Massachusetts-Lowell consistently outworked No. 4 Boston University’s defense in front of the Terriers net en route to a 3-2 victory in which all three River Hawk goals were scored from within five feet of the goal.

‘They possessed the puck and they got the puck to our crease at will many, many times,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘Our goaltender had to save a lot of grade-A shots that were eight inches from our goal, a foot from our goal, two feet from our goal. We were really inept at covering out front.’

After scoring four goals in close on Friday night only to lose, 5-4, on junior defenseman Colby Cohen’s overtime game-winner, the River Hawks (4-2-0, 2-1-0 Hockey East) went right back to the front of the net Saturday, attempting five shots from the top of the BU (2-3-0, 1-2-0) crease in the first period alone.

The constant pressure culminated in sophomore forward Michael Scheu’s second goal of the weekend at the 9:32 mark and was greatly aided by three early BU penalties, including two by junior defenseman and captain Kevin Shattenkirk.

‘We start the game taking three absolutely stupid penalties ‘-‘- stick penalties, slashing guys’ feet, knocking them off the puck ‘-‘- and give them three power plays right off the bat,’ Parker said. ‘And they finally score on one. Rule number one is don’t beat yourself, and we beat ourselves in that first period for sure.’

After the Terriers killed off a slashing minor on freshman Max Nicastro, Shattenkirk was called for a trip less than a minute later as he tried to recover after Matt Ferreira beat him to the outside. Just more than a minute into the power play, after the BU defense failed to clear a loose puck, sophomore David Vallorani fired a shot that led to a backdoor rebound for Scheu to deposit past sophomore netminder Kieran Millan (18 saves).

‘Like any game, when you start off with three penalties, especially coming from me, coming from a leader, it’s tough to get into the flow of the game,’ Shattenkirk said. ‘It really tires a lot of guys out when you have to consistently go out there and work at a disadvantage. My first penalty was just a stupid penalty . . . I definitely take responsibility for the goal that was scored off of it.’

After sophomore forward Vinny Saponari banged home a rebound for his first goal of the season 5:13 into the second to tie the game at one, UML recaptured the lead just 43 seconds later on another defensive breakdown by the Terriers.

Senior Paul Worthington took a pass behind the BU net, worked around to the other side and found an inexplicably wide-open Chris Auger on the right doorstep. The senior wasted no time in beating Millan glove side.

Eight minutes later, senior Ben Holmstrom netted what proved to be the game-winner on the power play. Once again, the Terriers failed to clear away a rebound. After a one-timer off the stick of senior Kory Falite, Holmstrom beat two BU defensemen to the loose puck and put it past Millan while falling to the ice.

‘We weren’t tough enough to play against tonight,’ senior defenseman and alternate captain Eric Gryba said. ‘We gave up too many chances in close. We have enough older guys ‘-‘- we have a senior, two juniors and a sophomore ‘-‘- who should know how to play this. And that’s our bad.

‘It’s something we have to work on this week, and make sure we come back strong the rest of the year and be strong around our net and not give them grade-A opportunities.’

One of the few bright spots for BU in the game was its power play. Saponari’s goal came seven seconds after the end of a man advantage and was the direct result of a good power-play setup, and the Terriers’ second goal, a Shattenkirk slapper from the point, came on the power play following a good puck rotation.

‘I think our power play has been slowly improving,’ Shattenkirk said. ‘We’ve been moving the puck a lot better and getting a lot of pressure on them when we have those loose-puck battles.’

But even the improved power play came up short when it mattered most. After Vallorani was called for a high stick with 2:46 left in regulation, BU had a golden chance to tie the game, but players being caught out of position and Cohen missing two passes at the point sealed the Terriers’ fate.

‘They probably have a better taste in their mouth right now than we do, even though we each got two points [on the weekend], because they won the last one, and that’s the one you remember,’ Parker said.