It didn’t really matter, as sophomore goaltender Sean Fields was up to his usual work against the Warriors, stopping 22-of-23 shots he faced and holding Merrimack scoreless until 7:21 into the third-period — extending a scoreless streak of 117:39 that had stretched over three games: a 4-0 shutout earlier this year and the latter stages of a 3-2 BU loss last season.
Fields was spectacular for much of the game, keeping the BU lead at one — scored by junior forward John Sabo 3:37 into the first period — despite Merrimack producing some great chances.
With six minutes left, Fields made perhaps his most spectacular save. He saved a Merrimack shot with his shoulder, but the puck bounced directly to another Warrior crashing the net. Fields reacted quickly enough to slide across the crease, stack his pads and get in front of what had looked like an open-net shot.
“I think the difference in the game was that they had three unbelievable opportunities that Fieldsie just stonewalled them. Otherwise, we’d still be playing,” said BU coach Jack Parker.
After Fields saved the day repeatedly, including a couple of his now-requisite flashy glove saves, the offense stepped up in surprising fashion — on the power play.
Coming into last night’s contest, the Icedogs had connected on only two of their last 35 chances with the man-advantage during a six-game period.
That horrible skid ended when junior center Brian Collins tapped in a rebound of senior forward Mike Pandolfo’s shot with four-and-a-half minutes gone in the third frame.
Less than three minutes later, the once unthinkable — another power play goal — happene, with the same cast of characters on the ice. Collins was the beneficiary of some good puck movement by his linemates and the defensemen manning the points, and a great shot to the net by freshman blue liner Bryan Miller.
“I came up to the front and Miller threw a real nice wrist shot to the net, and I just knocked it down and luckily enough it went in,” said Collins of the goal, his eighth of the season.
While Collins and his coach agreed that the change in linemates — he moved up to the first line with Pandolfo and sophomore Mark Mullen on his wings — had something to do with Collins’ slump-breaking performance, there was also the hardware factor.
“Mike Bavis, our assistant coach, made me change sticks yesterday,” Collins said. “He worked with me after practice. He told me to get rid of the stick I had; he didn’t want to see me within 10 feet of it ever again.”
The power play was not BU’s only special teams highlight of the night. The Icedogs killed off all seven Warrior power plays, including a five-minute major — called on sophomore Frantisek Skladany, who also earned a game-misconduct for his third period hit-from-behind — on which Merrimack was stifled repeatedly.
“We were pretty calm,” said Collins on killing off the major. “It was just like killing a regular penalty. The penalty kill is so good, we just move guys in real quick and everybody stays real fresh. Fields obviously is always back there, so that makes us feel really comfortable.”
BU finished off its scoring with 38 seconds left, when freshman center Brian McConnell chucked in an empty-netter, with the assists going to Sabo and senior forward Jack Baker, who had also earned a helper on Sabo’s first-period tally.
Parker tabbed that line the best overall on the night after being newly formed following the disappointing two-loss weekend to the University of New Hampshire. While BU failed to exhibit poisethat weekend, Parker was much happier with what he saw last night.
“We still were jumpy and as the game progressed we started to make more nice plays and look a little bit more poised with the puck,” Parker said. “I was pretty pleased, other than the fact that we keep passing it to them every once in awhile. We can’t seem to get out of that mode. I think they had two breakaways tonight and a point-blank that were just unbelievable stops. Take those plays out of the game, we looked pretty sharp.”
The Icedogs return to North Andover again Friday night for the third and final regular season meeting with the Warriors this season.
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