STORRS, Conn. – After blowing three separate leads and giving up eight goals less than 24 hours earlier, Saturday’s performance by the Boston University men’s hockey team was exactly what BU needed.
The Terriers shipped to the Toscano Family Ice Forum and took the game to No. 11 UConn (3-3-0, 1-1-0 Hockey East), defeating the Huskies 3-1 – something they struggled to do after the opening period on Friday.
In Saturday’s series finale, the first 20 minutes were played back and forth. No. 4 BU (3-3-1, 1-1-0 HE) performed well in the offensive and neutral zones, but struggled at times to break out of its defensive zone.
Freshmen Jonathan Morello, John McNelis and Ben Merrill – the Terriers’ fourth forward – provided quality shifts in the first inning but were unable to crack Huskies’ senior netminder Tyler Muszelik.
Sophomore forward Cole Eiserman took a hard hit on the boards late in the first, went straight down the tunnel and did not return to the game.
Junior forward Jack Harvey opened the scoring on the power play. The game started with freshman forward Conrad Fondrk finding a streaking Jack Murtagh on the left wing. Murtagh, a freshman forward, fired a shot at Muszelik. Muszelik stopped the first shot, but the puck squirted behind him, and Harvey swept home his first score of the season at 7:40 to put the Terriers up 1-0.
BU carried its momentum into the midframe, maintaining its aggressiveness on and off the puck and earning a power play at 11:04 when senior forward Jake Percival was called from behind for a check.
The Terriers took advantage of the man advantage again, this time courtesy of senior forward Owen McLaughlin. He took a pass from sophomore forward Kamil Bednarik at the point, skated in and ripped a wrist shot off the crossbar and in at 11:22 to double the BU lead.
UConn responded just over two minutes later at 1:37 p.m. Junior forward Joey Muldowney fired a one-timer from the right circle past sophomore goaltender Mikhail Yegorov. The Huskies threatened after getting on the board, but the Terriers stuck to their game and limited the damage.
Harvey’s second goal of the game gave BU a 3-1 lead at 15:11 of the second. McLaughlin found Harvey in the slot, who fired the puck past Muszelik. Sophomore forward Sacha Boisvert, who missed the last two games due to an undisclosed injury, was credited with an assist.
After killing a tripping penalty to start the third period, UConn did everything it could to cut back on the BU lead, outscoring the Terriers seven games to three in the final frame.
Yegorov, who was pulled after allowing six goals in Friday’s loss, turned upside down to preserve BU’s lead. He finished with 24 saves.
Muszelik skated away for an extra skater at 5:43, but the Huskies couldn’t find the back of the net despite a late push.
This story will be updated.
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