And as Cole Hutson’s penalty shot crept ever so slowly over the goal line, BU exploded off the bench, toward the Hobey Baker nominee.
Jay Pandolfo could have picked anyone other than Jack Harvey and Cole Eiserman to jump the boards. With a chance to win the Beanpot semi-final, he probably didn’t even think about it.
Hutson looked like he was going for Lawton Zacher’s five-hole, but the puck found a way to slide to the left side of the NU goalie’s left pad. Hutson’s shootout winner advanced BU to its third consecutive Beanpot Finals, where the Terriers will face Boston College in a rematch of last season’s win.
Nick Roukounakis tied the game at 2-2 midway through the second, firing past NU goalie Lawton Zacher. He had Ryder Ritchie in the 2-on-1 when he wanted — and Northeast defenseman Dylan Finlay clearly thought he wanted that. And so, while the Huskies’ assistant captain sold out to defend a potential pass to Ritchie, the grizzly, hard-working sophomore from BU did it himself, scoring just his fifth collegiate goal with the composure of someone scoring his 100th.
When BU needed a play Monday night, it was the lesser-known names of the star-studded Terriers who showed up, as they often do this season. The sight of Roukounakis, a 22-year-old undrafted winger, going solo in a 2-on-1 battle with Ryder Ritchie, a CHL freshman drafted in the second round, was a pretty perfect summary of BU’s season. As the Terriers’ high-end talents have largely failed to live up to the hype, bottom-six regulars like Roukounakis have performed consistently.
Before Roukounakis’ goal, linemate Jonathan Morello got into position at the front, tapped in a pass and made it 1-1. The freshman, a fifth-round pick of the Bruins two years ago, has also spent most of the year in the bottom six and has given Jay Pandolfo everything the coach could ask of him and more. His tally was his sixth of the year.
Northeastern opened the scoring in the first on a power-play explosion from Dylan Hyrckow, with the Huskies quickly spinning the puck to their assistant captain after BU committed two of four penalty kills in a puck battle in the corner, which the Terriers did not win. Hyrckowian assisted linemate Jacob Mathieu on the go-ahead goal in the second, an out-of-nowhere transition goal after a long stretch of BU possession.
Although the Terriers dominated possession and zone time early, the Huskies worked slowly into the game. BU outscored NU 15-7 in the third, but like in the first, Pandolfo’s team didn’t create many dangerous looks because of the favorable ice slope.
Rascal freshman Giacomo Martino made the call in the post, Mikhail Yegorov made a huge stop against Hryckowian after a brutal turnover by Cole Hutson, and Ritchie and BU sophomore Cole Eiserman both squandered transition opportunities at the other end. But Zacher and Yegorov weren’t tested much beyond that.
The Terriers defeated the Huskies 38-26. Here are two takeaways:
BU was able to maintain offensive possession during the second period.
The Terriers came out in the second and dominated attacking zone time. BU was able to stack shifts and keep the puck in its zone for most of the period. The Terriers won battles on the forcheck and recovered rebounds.
Although the Terriers didn’t have many high-danger opportunities, as reflected in the ratio of shot attempts to shots on target, which was 58 to 22 at the end of the second, regaining possession and generating pressure on the net was what BU needed to get things in order.
It’s no secret that the Terriers have struggled on offense lately, but control in the mid-frame gave them a crucial spark. — Hannah Connors
BU’s third line appeared.
Pandolfo has regularly shuffled his forward lines as he desperately searches for an attacking spark. But despite shifting its place on the line chart – with performances in the first, fourth and third lines – the trio of Roukounakis, Morello and Ritchie have become a mainstay for the Terriers in the second term.
At least that was until Friday. The group was together on five consecutive line charts before Pandolfo split it in BU’s 4-1 loss to BC on Friday night.
Pandolfo brought the group back together on Monday, netting BU’s first two goals of the game.
Morello’s tip-in came at the end of a long stretch of offensive zone time, during which the trio did well to chase the puck and maintain possession. The Terriers were rewarded for it.
Roukounakis then showed his explosiveness on the Terriers’ second count, pushing through the neutral zone to set up a 2-on-1 with Ritchie, which he took and buried himself.
Although Ritchie struggled for much of the first half, he looked much better alongside Morello and Roukounakis. He generated multiple opportunities on the rush and looked fluid while carrying the puck through the neutral zone.
Morello finished with the highest plus-minus among the Terriers at +2. – Henry Dinh-Price
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