The Boston University men’s hockey team will be heading to the TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals for a record ninth straight season.
Junior forward Nick Bonino tallied a goal and two assists, junior defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk notched a goal and an assist, and sophomore goalie Kieran Millan made 34 saves as the Terriers shut out Merrimack College 3-0 in Sunday’s decisive Game 3.
“I thought we played great tonight from the get-go,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “Our real important guys really answered the call. Bonino played great tonight. Shattenkirk played great tonight. [Junior defenseman] Colby Cohen played great tonight. [Sophomore defenseman David] Warsofsky played great tonight. They all had tough nights last night, and they all bounced back and played great tonight. And our most important guy played great for the weekend, Kieran Millan.”
After Merrimack (16-19-2, 12-13-2 HE) controlled play for most of the game’s opening minutes, BU (18-16-3, 13-12-2) took a 1-0 lead midway through the first. Bonino held the puck in the left corner and found a streaking Shattenkirk, who quickly snapped the puck through a defenseman’s legs and over sophomore goalie Joe Cannata’s (27 saves) right pad.
With less than a minute to go in the first, the Terriers created a 6-on-5 by pulling Millan on a delayed penalty. They appeared to score when Cohen banged home a Bonino rebound, but the goal was waved off after referee Tim Benedetto ruled that Merrimack had possession of the puck, drawing the ire of the BU bench.
The no-goal didn’t cost the Terriers, though, as they capitalized just 16 seconds into the ensuing power play. Bonino took a pass from sophomore forward Vinny Saponari (2 assists), walked out front from the right corner and put a shot on net. Cannata made the initial save, but Bonino found the rebound and backhanded it into the cage.
“I thought the power-play goal that Bonino got was huge,” Parker said. “The goal got waved off . . . and that might’ve deflated us. The puck was dropped, Bonino goes in and scores. Great individual effort.”
Sophomore forward Chris Connolly put the game out of reach with 2:52 left in the game when he wristed a shot past Cannata from the left circle for BU’s second power-play goal of the game. A night after going just 1-for-11 with 13 shots on the man advantage, the Terriers went 2-for-5 with eight shots Sunday night.
“We stretched them out a little bit more because they were jumping us pretty good,” Parker said. “So we changed the power-play look a little bit, but more importantly, we passed the puck hard and we moved to open areas. We didn’t stand around watching. We didn’t hang onto the puck.”
BU also did a great job on the other half of the special-teams equation. Merrimack came into the weekend with the third-best power play in the country (22.9 percent), but the Terrier penalty kill held it to a 1-for-18 (5.6 percent) showing on the weekend, including an 0-for-7 in the series finale.
“The shining light of the entire series was Kieran Millan and great, great penalty killing,” Parker said. “A big part of that is the goaltender has to play great to kill them. Kieran was great, and everybody else really worked hard. That was the best part of the weekend throughout.”
Notes: The series featured a total of 163 penalty minutes and was extremely physical throughout, and the Terriers have plenty of cuts and bruises to show for it. Sophomore forward Kevin Gilroy suffered a cut to his head Friday that required 16 stitches, but he played Saturday and Sunday. Freshman defenseman Max Nicastro required 26 stitches after a skate blade cut an artery in his wrist Saturday. He missed Sunday’s game but is expected to be back for the semifinals. Cohen (hip), Warsofsky (leg) and freshman forward Alex Chiasson (leg) all left Sunday’s game for brief stretches, but they all returned . . . BU will face the University of Maine at 8 p.m. Friday night in the second semifinal game. Boston College will take on the University of Vermont in the first game at 5 p.m.
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