NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The No. 20 Boston University men's ice hockey team moved a step closer to a first round bye in the Hockey East championship with a 3-1 win over Merrimack on Saturday night at the Warriors' Lawler Rink.

Dante Fabbro, Gabriel Chabot and Logan Cockerill each tallied for the Terriers while Jake Oettinger stopped 28 shots in net for BU.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• BU made its first statement of the game defensively. With senior captain Brandon Hickey off the ice for a five-minute boarding major, the Terriers actually outshot Merrimack 2-1 on the extended power play.
• After a scoreless first period where BU held an 8-5 edge in shots, the Terriers finally inaugurated the night's scoring with just 5:38 to play in the second period. Sophomore Dante Fabbro thread a shot from the point through traffic and into the Warrior net for a power play goal. Freshmen Shane Bowers and Brady Tkachuk picked up the helpers.
• Just under three minutes later, the Terriers doubled their lead to 2-0 when Gabriel Chabot scored his first goal of the year. David Farrance and Chad Krys assisted on Chabot's marker.
• Merrimack got on the board 2:22 into the third period when Simon Lööf scored on a blue line slap shot through traffic that deflected in off of a BU player.
• Four seconds after a power play ended, BU made it 3-1 midway through the third on a pretty passing play as Drew Melanson sent a centering pass to Brandon Hickey who fed Logan Cockerill on the left wing for his sixth goal of the year.

GAME NOTES

• With his assist on Fabbro's opening goal of the game, Tkachuk now has 18 on the year, passing Fabbro's 17 for the team lead.
• Freshman Logan Cockerill and sophomore Dante Fabbro both extended their point streaks to eight games tonight – the longest such runs for any Terrier this season. They are the longest scoring streaks by BU since Clayton Keller ended last season on a 10-game run.
• With Fabbro's power play strike, the Terriers now have a power play goal scored in nine of their last 10 contests.
• BU has made a habit of getting out of the gates quickly. Tonight was the 14^th time in the last 15 games where BU either led or was at least tied after the opening stanza. The Beanpot final against Northeastern on Feb. 12 is the only time BU has trailed after 20 minutes since Dec. 2 at Boston College.
• BU has swept the season series with Merrimack for the first time since winning all five contests between the sides in 2012-13. BU also beat Merrimack twice in January during a home-and-home weekend series.
• Although several were truncated, BU received five power plays tonight, its most in a Hockey East game in over a month since having six on Jan. 13 at Providence. The five power plays tonight matched the total BU had seen in its last three Hockey East games combined.
• The win is David Quinn's 99^th as head coach of the Terriers.
• As a result of BU's win tonight and Maine's loss at Boston College, the Terriers currently stand all alone in fourth place in the Hockey East standings heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Finishing fourth would mean a first round bye and the right to host a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Agganis Arena, March 9-11.

UP NEXT

• BU will wrap up its 2017-18 regular season back at Agganis Arena next weekend as the Terriers play host to Vermont on both Friday and Saturday nights.