ORONO, Maine — The toughest five-game stretch of the season for the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team didn’t exactly go as planned as the Terriers lost a pair of failed comebacks to No. 14 Merrimack College and No. 2 Boston College.
Despite carrying momentum from two straight road wins over No. 7/8 University of New Hampshire and No. 11/12 University of Maine, it appeared that BU’s (12-7-7, 9-5-5 Hockey East) fifth game of that stretch – their second in as many nights against the Black Bears (11-7-6, 8-5-4 HE) at Alfond Arena – would be just as frustrating as the first two. Instead, the Terriers came away with a 1-1 tie and a valuable conference point.
Maine got on the board just 21 seconds into Saturday’s game on a shot through traffic by defenseman Will O’Neill from the left point. To make matters worse, the Black Bears outshot BU by an astounding 20-2 margin in the game’s first frame. The only thing keeping the game from being decidedly in the home team’s favor was a breakaway goal by BU senior captain Joe Pereira seven minutes after O’Neill’s tally.
But luckily for BU, the score remained notched at 1-1 thanks to a stellar penalty kill and 41 saves by junior goalie Kieran Millan. The tie gave BU the season series win over the Black Bears with a 1-0-2 record and allowed the Terriers to finish the five-game stretch at 2-2-1.
“If you told me we’d come up to Maine and take three out of four points, I’d be very happy,” said BU coach Jack Parker.
“Give Maine a lot of credit. They came out, they knew their backs were against the wall, they needed points here. They needed the win more than we did. We got the tie. That really helps us out.”
Before anyone in Alfond Arena had a chance to settle into their seats, the Maine offense was already in full-attack mode. O’Neill slapped the game’s first shot from the left point with junior forward Gustav Nyquist setting the perfect screen in front of Millan. The goalie never had much of a chance to react as the puck sailed by him.
The Black Bears never appeared to let up for the remainder of the period, averaging a shot a minute thanks in part to six shots on two separate power plays.
“The most important thing that I disliked about my team was we didn’t come ready to play,” Parker said. “You could tell from the opening faceoff that we weren’t anywhere near as geared up as we needed to be to sweep Maine. And they took it to us, first half of the game for sure.”
Even Pereira’s tally in the first – his team-leading 11th goal of the season – was not the result of offensive pressure from the Terriers, but was sprung from their own zone. Fellow captain Chris Connolly poked away a point-to-point pass on the Black Bears’ second power play of the night. From there, Connolly sprinted toward the Maine net with Pereira on his right. At just the last moment, he flipped the puck to his linemate, who stuffed the puck past the diving arm of Maine netminder Martin Ouellette (19 saves) on BU’s first shot of the night.
“I owed Millan a goal,’ Pereira said. ‘I gave a bad pass in the first shift of the game that cost him a goal. So I told him I’d go get him something.”
Millan withstood the rest of the Maine onslaught, making 19 saves in the first to keep the score tied at one apiece.
“We kept saying, ‘Bend but don’t break,”’ Pereira said. “What we did was we tried to let Millan stop as much pucks as he could. He’s not just one of the better goalies in Hockey East, he’s one of the best goalies in the country and he’s playing like it the last few games. If he’s up to the task, we’re going to go pretty far.”
Millan later proved that statement in the second when he turned what could have been the game’s costliest error into the game’s biggest highlight. Maine forward Carlos Amestoy slid the puck through the crease to wide-open forward Mark Anthoine. With his back turned to the puck, Millan turned around and cut quickly from the left side of the net to the right just in time to scoop Anthoine’s shot from the ice before it could pass the goal line.
BU had its own prime opportunity in the same period after Maine defenseman Marc Nemec’s high-sticking major gave the Terriers a five-minute power play and a hooking call on center Tanner House provided them with a five-on-three for 1:58. But the Terriers let the advantage go by the wayside.
“You could time it with a calendar, the puck was moving so slow,” Parker said. “It was bizarre. We were staring every pass. The puck was fluttering. We just looked inept.”
Special teams again took center stage in the third as BU gave up five man advantages for the home team. The Terriers held strong, continuing to pressure the exterior of the Maine power play to the point where getting off quality shots was nearly impossible.
Neither team established clear momentum in the extra period as the game ended in a tie for the second time in the three-game season series.
“I thought we played a little bit better in the second period and a little bit better in the third period,” Parker said. “But none of the periods were where we need to be. We dodged a bullet getting a point tonight.”
That point allowed BU to stay two points ahead of Merrimack for the third spot in the HE standings, although the Terriers have played two more games than the Warriors. With eight conference games remaining against lower University of Massachusetts (both Amherst and Lowell), Providence College, University of Vermont and Northeastern University, the Terriers could very well be in prime position for home-ice advantage going into the conference playoffs in March.
“Now we’ve got the last third of the season and it’s all up for grabs,” Parker said. “But at least we’re in position.”
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