Great escape.
Those are pretty much the only words to describe the Terriers’ Houdini act at Matthews Arena Friday, when the Icedogs dominated play and pelted the Northeastern net with 44 shots – but still trailed, 2-1, with 13 minutes to play.
And even after they took a 3-2 lead, the pesky Huskies wouldn’t go away, tying it before a pretty power play goal from Kenny Roche with 2:14 to play gave the Terriers (20-9-4, 16-7-3 Hockey East) the much-needed two points. David Van der Gulik added an empty-netter to seal the scoring.
Among the things BU clinched Friday were home-ice advantage in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs, an unbeaten (2-0-2) record in four consecutive games on the road and a good chance at stealing the Hockey East regular-season title Saturday from the floundering Boston College Eagles.
“We can’t be worrying about that,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “The only thing we can do is worry about taking care of business for ourselves and see what happens.”
Parker was certainly doing his fair share of worrying Friday. After a sluggish first two minutes, the Terriers seized control of the puck, spending most of the first period in Northeastern’s zone, earning three power plays (and taking eight power-play shots) and throwing everything they could at freshman goalie Jake Thaler, who was playing his first college hockey.
But early on, that wasn’t enough. Thaler (39 saves) – who Mike Bavis said brought to mind visions of John Curry early – stood equal to the task, the Terriers couldn’t seem to finish and Joe Santilli swung around into the high slot and scored a power play goal to give ninth-place Northeastern (3-23-7, 3-16-7) the 1-0 lead.
Dan Spang scored the first of his two goals from a tough angle to tie it late in the period, but the second was more of the same – and without an answer from BU. The Terriers outshot Northeastern 14-6 in both the first and second, but Yale Lewis’s goal made it 2-1 Northeastern after two.
“After the second period, we were kinda shaking our heads,” said BU captain Brad Zancanaro (3 assists in the game for a team-leading 32 points). “The problem was, too, we weren’t getting a lot of guys in front of him and we weren’t staying at the net. The rebounds were just getting shoveled away.”
After the goals didn’t come easy at Vermont last weekend, either, it was easy to wonder whether the Terriers were beginning to get frustrated.
“I was worried that we were getting back into the snake-bitten mode again,” Parker said. “The second period I thought we shot it into his chest a lot.”
But the third, they shot it into the net a lot. Seven minutes in, Spang flung a wrister from the right point that handcuffed Thaler to tie it – and give BU its first power-play goal in eight chances in the game. They finished 2-for-10.
“He’s gotta be one of the best defensemen in the nation,” Parker said of Spang. “He’s gotten some big goals this year before, and he’s had a heck of a season. But he just keeps pouring it on here, and getting better and better. I think he will get the recognition he deserves this year.”
BU went ahead less than two minutes later, when Jekabs Redlihs’s good point shot was tipped around by Pete MacArthur and finally in by Boomer Ewing on the rebound.
“In the third period when Ewing scored that goal he was in front of the net whacking away at it,” Zancanaro said. “That’s just what we needed.”
But they needed one more after Ray Ortiz backhanded one home for the Huskies moments later. And they got it in the form of their prettiest goal of the night – a tic-tac-toe power-play tally from MacArthur to Brandon Yip to Roche for the winner. That prompted animated applause from Parker and a sense of relief from the large BU fan contingent at Matthews – which Parker saluted on his way off the ice after the game.
Most Terriers asked said they wouldn’t be watching the scoreboard Saturday, on Senior Night, at Agganis Arena, checking for updates from the BC-New Hampshire game. Going in, a Terrier win and BC loss would give BU the regular-season title outright.
But Zancanaro at least admitted his curiosity.
“Maybe,” Zancanaro said. “We gotta focus on Northeastern first. It was a tough task tonight to get that done.”