Peer at the final scoreline of Friday night’s tilt between the No. 3 Boston University men’s hockey team and the University of Maine, and you’d likely wager that the game was a breeze.
After all, Agganis Arena saw a 4-1 win for BU unfold.
However, Rob McGovern, Maine’s netminder, frustrated what’s arguably college hockey’s hottest team for the better part of three periods. It wasn’t until a flurry of goals 2:58 midway through the third frame that head coach David Quinn’s side pulled away for its seventh-straight victory.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful to Maine – we won 4-1 and got two valuable Hockey East points against a good team,” Quinn said. “I guess I’m being a nitpicker. There were things I liked about the first two periods, but we’re always comparing ourselves to ourselves and what our abilities are. I thought we were off.”
As Quinn explained, BU (15-5-2, 8-2-2 Hockey East) struggled to get going throughout the first two frames. It held a 21-10 advantage in shots, but trailed for almost their entirety. In fact, it was Maine (8-12-3, 2-8-1 Hockey East) that broke the deadlock with 1:16 left in the first period.
While on the power play, a shot from the point pinballed left and right past freshman netminder Jake Oettinger. The final touch came from senior Blaine Byron, and the 1-0 scoreline held until freshman forward Clayton Keller extended his point streak to nine games.
Keller, a first-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes, pounced on a loose puck in front of McGovern that followed a shot from junior defenseman Brandon Hickey, evening the score at 1-1. For junior forward Nikolas Olsson, that strike from Keller proved vital, paving the way for the floodgates to eventually open in the final 20 minutes.
“It’s pretty frustrating when you’re putting up a good amount of shots and not getting any results,” Olsson said. “When [Keller] put that one in, it kind of sparked us and showed us that we might finally get rewarded for our efforts. It gave us a little more push.”
That push came via sophomore Bobo Carpenter, who fired a slapshot on the power play past McGovern, putting BU up, 2-1. Then his classmate, Jordan Greenway, did the same, rounding into the slot and firing bar down, also on the power play.
The Terriers added their fourth via Olsson, as he capped off some tic-tac-toe passing from his linemates, sophomore Ryan Cloonan and senior Nick Roberto, to seal the 4-1 win.
“I thought we really upped the ante in the second and third periods,” Quinn said. “I thought we played with a lot more passion, I thought we played with a physical side to our game that we didn’t play with … and once we got one we started making plays and looked more comfortable with the puck and doing the things we’re capable of doing.”
One constant throughout the night was Oettinger, who finished with 13 saves and was showered with praise by Quinn and Olsson. It was easy to lose sight of his showing, though, largely because the power play struggled to kick into second gear.
It finished 2-for-7 on the night, but couldn’t generate grade-A chances until Carpenter’s slap shot. Quinn attributed those ups and downs to a lack of pace, and Greenway agreed.
“They’re a pretty aggressive team,” Greenway said. “We haven’t really seen a team come at us as aggressively as they did, so it’s kind of new to us. But I agree with [Quinn]. We weren’t moving the puck as quickly as we should have been. We didn’t get enough pucks to the net.”
Through all those ups and downs, BU is now in prime position to sweep head coach Red Gendron’s side. The two sides meet again on Saturday night at Alfond Arena, and BU has the chance to up its 63-50-13 series edge.
When the puck does drop in Orono, Maine, Quinn has one wish: that his team builds off its third period from Friday.
“I’m just glad we rebounded after 40 [minutes] and didn’t have to wait until tomorrow night to pick up where we left off Monday night [against Boston College],” he said.