Featured image: Agganis Arena, home of Boston University men’s hockey, in 2022 (file photo). Photo: ForksForks, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Boston University swept No. 19 Maine at Agganis Arena over Halloween weekend, while Boston College and Northeastern traded overtime wins at Kelley Rink. The Hockey East weekend left BU at 6-2-0 and showed how lopsided shot totals can mislead: BC outshot Northeastern 97-42 and still only split.
BU’s fast start and late comeback against Maine
BU won Friday’s opener 7-2 behind goals from seven different players, according to BU Athletics. The Terriers scored three goals in the first 1:31 and four by 4:49, the program’s fastest start this century, and all 12 BU forwards recorded a point. BU went 2-for-4 on the power play and outshot Maine 37-30, with goalie Mikhail Yegorov making 28 saves.
Saturday took longer. Maine led 2-0 and outshot BU 21-8 in the first period, according to the BU recap of Saturday’s game. Tynan Lawrence scored twice in the third period, first on a power play at 6:56 and then the tying goal with 2:12 left. Caleb Malhotra won it 1:35 into overtime. Yegorov made 34 saves, 19 of them in the first period, and BU is now 3-1-0 in overtime games.
BU, ranked No. 14 and No. 13 in the two national polls, is 4-2-0 in Hockey East. The Terriers visit No. 4 Michigan State on Nov. 6 and 7 and host Harvard on Nov. 10.
BC and Northeastern split two overtime games
On Friday, Dean Letourneau scored 45 seconds into overtime to give BC a 3-2 win and end a four-game losing streak against Northeastern, according to BC Athletics. Matias Vanhanen scored 26 seconds into the game, and BC outshot the Huskies 48-18.
Northeastern answered Saturday with a 4-3 overtime win. Tyler Fukakusa scored 2:06 into overtime, Jacob Mathieu scored twice and Amine Hajibi added a goal, according to Northeastern Athletics. Senior goalie Lawton Zacher made 46 saves on 49 shots. For BC, Alex Pelletier had a goal and two assists, and Letourneau and Jake Sondreal also scored, according to the BC recap of Saturday’s game.
By the numbers: shots versus results
By TBR’s calculation from the team box scores, BC outshot Northeastern 97-42 across the two games, or 2.3 shots for every Husky shot, and the series still ended 1-1. Zacher stopped 91 of 97 shots, a .938 save percentage. BC goalie Louka Cloutier faced 42 shots and made 36 saves, or .857.
The BU-Maine series went the other way. Maine outshot BU 66-64 across the weekend, yet BU outscored the Black Bears 10-4. Yegorov stopped 62 of 66 shots, a .939 save percentage, nearly matching Zacher’s number on far fewer shots. The two weekends point the same direction: in a two-game series, goaltending and finishing moved the results more than shot volume did.
BC is 2-4-1 overall and 1-1-0 in Hockey East, and Northeastern is 3-2-0 and 1-2-0. Earlier this season, TBR reported on BC’s tie at Denver and the opening weeks for the area’s teams.
What’s next
BC hosts Vermont on Nov. 5 and 6. Northeastern plays at Holy Cross on Nov. 7, according to the Huskies’ schedule. Elsewhere in the league this weekend, Vermont swept New Hampshire and UMass beat Harvard 4-2 on Friday, according to Hockey East Online.
Sources
- BU Athletics: Terriers skate past No. 19 Maine, 7-2
- BU Athletics: Terriers rally for 3-2 overtime win over No. 19 Maine
- BC Athletics: Men’s hockey defeats Northeastern in overtime, 3-2
- BC Athletics: Men’s hockey falls in overtime to Northeastern, 4-3
- Northeastern Athletics: Fukakusa overtime hero as Huskies topple Boston College
- Hockey East Online: Friday, Oct. 30 scores
Additional sources
Saturday’s BC-Northeastern game drew 1,508 at Kelley Rink, and Pelletier’s goal was his first as a collegian, according to BC Athletics. Merrimack beat UConn 5-4 on Friday, and the teams tied 5-5 on Saturday, with UConn earning the extra point in a shootout, according to Hockey East Online. Holy Cross hockey news is in TBR’s Worcester report.
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