Feb. 14, 2014
Box Score | Video Highlights
DURHAM, N.H. - The Boston University men's ice hockey team came up just short in a 4-3 road contest against New Hampshire on Friday evening at the Whittemore Center.
The Terriers held a 40-27 shot advantage but their mistakes were taken advantage of by an opportunistic UNH squad. BU now stands at 8-17-4 on the season with a 3-9-3 Hockey East mark while the Wildcats move to 17-15-1 overall and 9-8 in conference play.
After falling into a 3-0 hole just under 18 minutes into the game, BU responded with back-to-back goals to get within one.
UNH scored again to take a 4-2 lead after two before the Terriers once again made it a one-goal affair off a power play midway through the third.
Sophomore goaltender Casey DeSmith and the UNH defense, however, held off the visitors down the stretch, including a handful of chances with an extra attacker towards the end of regulation.
Each member of BU's top forward line provided a goal. Freshman Robbie Baillargeon had a hand in all three, scoring once and added two assists. Junior Evan Rodrigues and sophomore Danny O'Regan each notched a goal and an assist. Sophomore Matt O'Connor stopped 23 of the 27 shots he faced.
Junior Matt Willows scored a pair of goals for the Wildcats, who also got a three-assist performance from senior defenseman Justin Agosta. DeSmith recorded 37 saves in goal.
The Terriers drew an early penalty, but it only ended up helping the Wildcats. A BU turnover at the top of the UNH zone led to a breakaway for senior Jeff Silengo. His attempt was stopped by O'Connor, but sophomore Dan Correale trailed behind the play and punched in the rebound just 2:52 into the contest.
The Wildcats used a power play of their own to double their lead. After getting settled in the BU zone, UNH got the puck to senior Eric Knodel at the top of the left circle. His hard wrister beat O'Connor high glove side at 10:13 on assists from classmate Kevin Goumas and sophomore Brett Pesce.
Junior Matt Willows gave UNH a 3-0 advantage with 2:20 left in the first when he cleaned up off a rebound following a shot from Agosta.
UNH took a pair of penalties 26 seconds apart late in the opening stanza and the Terriers took advantage of the two-man edge. Rodrigues scored for second consecutive game when he sent home a loose puck at the right crease after an attempt by Baillargeon was saved. The tally ended a BU drought of 25 straight power-play chances without a goal.
Each team scored off a rush in the middle stanza. After taking a pass from Baillargeon, Rodrigues - near the left boards - found O'Regan streaking down the slot all alone. The sophomore quickly deked and converted at the right post to make it a 3-2 contest at 8:53.
Less than three minutes later, UNH scored on a 2-on-2 rush when Willows found the back of the net from the right circle after receiving a pass from Agosta.
Down 4-2, the Terriers continued to battle and made things interesting with just under 11 minutes remaining in the third when they were handed their second 5-on-3 opportunity of the evening.
Sophomore Ahti Oksanen spotted Baillargeon at the foot of the right circle and the freshman came through, beating DeSmith to pot his eighth goal of the season. Senior co-captain Garrett Noonan earned a secondary assist on the goal.
BU looked primed for an equalizer and pulled O'Connor in favor of an extra attacker with 86 seconds left on the clock. DeSmith stood tall though and make some tough stops to help his team secure the win.
The Terriers went 2-for-5 on the power play while the Wildcats converted on one of their four chances with the man advantage.
The teams will wrap up their weekend home-and-home series on Saturday (Feb. 15) at Agganis Arena beginning at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NESN and BU will retire the number of legendary head coach Jack Parker during the first intermission.
