No. 8 Terriers drop match against UConn

HARTFORD, Connecticut — For the second straight game, head coach David Quinn was pleased with his team’s efforts in the third period.

Its final frame endeavor earned the No. 8 Boston University men’s hockey team a win on Saturday, besting the University of Connecticut by a score of 4-2 at home. On Tuesday, the push came a little too late.

In the road half of a home-and-home with the Huskies (3-2, 1-1 Hockey East), the Terriers (2-2, 1-1 Hockey East) fell to their conference rivals 5-2 at the XL Center. They managed to outshoot UConn 38-24 and 15-7 in the third alone, but climbing back into the game proved difficult for BU as goaltender Rob Nichols was in the squad’s way.

With 36 saves on Tuesday night and a .927 save percentage on the year now, Nichols was stalwart between the pipes and quashed any hope of a Terrier comeback. He and his defense weathered a storm of insistent BU offensive pressure early in the third when the score was 3-1 in favor of the Huskies and gave UConn the chance to break out and seal the win by the time the final buzzer sounded.

“You can’t wait till you’re down 3-1 and play with an urgency,” Quinn said. “It’s a lot easier to play that way. They’re obviously playing a lot different when they’re up 3-1. That being said, I was happy with our energy, and our opportunities. We just weren’t able to get one by, and [Nichols] played great in net.”

Instead the Huskies waited and ended up benefiting from a slew of penalties that the Terriers committed later on in the third, pushing the game out of reach completely. The BU penalty kill, Quinn said, was the story of the contest.

The Terriers took a total of eight penalties and gave the Huskies seven power play opportunities to work with. They managed to convert at least once per period, tallying a total four markers with the man advantage.

UConn’s first power-play goal was its game-opener. After freshman winger Bobo Carpenter took a hooking penalty, freshman Tage Thompson buried a rebound 6:13 into the period after sophomore goaltender Connor LaCouvee made the initial save. It would be Thompson’s first of three on the night.

As the opening frame came to a close, BU was awarded a power play of its own. With 32.7 seconds left on the clock prior to intermission, freshman defenseman Charlie McAvoy made a slick pass down to senior assistant captain Danny O’Regan by the net, who was waiting backdoor to put it past Nichols to tie things up.

In the second period, though, the Huskies tallied a pair of goals. They took advantage of another BU penalty and rebound opportunity as winger Evan Richardson regained the lead for his team at 8:07.

UConn struck again seven minutes later when freshman Max Kalter and senior Joey Ferriss had a 2-on-0 vs. LaCouvee that the pair turned into Ferriss’ first marker of the season.

“We give up a goal on just an awful change,” Quinn said. “An awful change.”

As the third period began, the Terriers woke up, playing with the urgency their coach mentioned. But they were unsuccessful and UConn made them pay.

The Huskies added another goal 16:01 into the frame after freshman defenseman Shane Switzer took a hooking penalty. Rookie Max Letunov found Thompson for his second of the game and increased the UConn lead to three goals.

Forty-five seconds later, Thompson completed his hat trick with his third power-play goal of the game. Following an interference penalty taken by first-year forward Jordan Greenway, Letunov connected with his winger again and pushed the Huskies ahead 5-1.

The Terriers finally answered with 51.6 seconds left as sophomore forward Chase Phelps scored, but there was no celebration from any scarlet-clad player on the ice.

“Right now we’re just playing an immature game,” Quinn said. “The good news it’s October, there’s a lot of hockey ahead of us, and we will get better. We’ve just got to change our approach in a lot of ways.

“We’re too loose. We don’t play thorough enough in all three zones. And right now we’re playing too high-risk. And when you do that, you’re putting yourself in too difficult positions. And that’s what we’re doing too often right now.

“The good news is,” he continued, “we get to go to practice tomorrow and get better.”