BOSTON, Mass. - Senior forward Peter Lenes scored a goal and added two assists - including a helper on junior Brayden Irwin's game-winner late in the third period - to lift Vermont to a 4-3 win over the No. 2 Boston University men's ice hockey team on Friday evening at Agganis Arena. Junior Luke Popko and seniors Chris Higgins and Jason Lawrence scored for the Terriers, who fell at home for the first time this season.
There were three ties in the game, as BU scored first to take its first and only lead before rallying from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits. The final four goals of the contest came on the power play, as each team converted 2-of-5 chances on the night.
BU had its 11-game regular-season home winning streak snapped with the loss and fell to 7-3-0 overall and 6-3-0 in conference play. Vermont improved to 6-3-2 with a 3-3-1 league mark.
Under three minutes after the Terriers knotted the game at 3-3 with a power-play tally from Lawrence, Irwin redirected an offering above the right post from senior Peter Lenes on a Vermont power play with 5:59 left in regulation.
The Catamounts' freshman goaltender, Rob Madore, earned first-star honors with 38 saves, as the Terriers held a commanding 41-24 advantage in shots. Freshman Grant Rollheiser had a 20-save performance in the BU goal.
Sophomores Wahsontiio Stacey and Chris Atkinson both scored for Vermont in the second period, while junior Viktor Stalberg assisted on both of the Catamounts' third-period tallies. Sophomores Colby Cohen and Colin Wilson each had two assists on the night for the Terriers.
BU was quick to the puck throughout the first period and generated several quality scoring chances before opening the scoring on an odd-man rush at 16:28.
Senior Matt Gilroy cleared the puck out of the BU zone to junior Zach Cohen, who skated in from the left side before finding sophomore Joe Pereira at the right post. Pereira's offer was broken up by Madore, but the puck trickled out in front of the crease and Popko turned in a backhand that slowly snuck past Madore's left pad and inside the right post.
After entering the first intermission with a 1-0 deficit, Vermont notched an equalizer on a give-and-go in transition at 2:31 of the second.
Sophomore defenseman Josh Burrows blocked a BU shot outside the left crease and puck made its way to Stacey, who fed senior Peter Lenes along the right boards. After nearing the right circle, Lenes sent the puck back to Stacey, who elevated a backhand over Rollheiser's blocker at the left post.
Just minutes after Vermont's first tally, Madore made a pair of standout saves, including an improbable glove stop on a virtually wide-open rebound attempt by Lawrence.
The Terriers had trouble clearing the puck out of their zone on a handful of occasions in the second and the visitors took advantage of one to take their first lead of the contest at 9:55.
Junior Jonathan Higgins blocked a pass just inside the blue line and Atkinson gathered the puck before attacking the cage from the left side. Rollhesier got a piece of Atkinson's shot but the puck flipped high over the netminder's left shoulder and dropped just inside the far post before it could be batted away.
BU, which came into the game with the nation's top power-play unit, used a Vermont penalty to tie the contest at 2 at the 16:04 mark of the second. Higgins followed up his own rebound at the bottom of the left circle and found the back of the net on assists from sophomores Colby Cohen and Colin Wilson.
Lenes broke the 2-2 deadlock on a man advantage at 5:15 of the third. The senior collected a puck after a pass went off a skate in the slot and skated to the left circle before beating Rollheiser glove-side. Sophomore Justin Milo and Stalberg assisted on the play.
Penalties within a minute of each other on Vermont's Patrick Cullity and Kevan Miller gave the Terriers a 5-on-3 advantage midway through the third. Colby Cohen found Lawrence in the slot and the senior beat Madore with a redirect to the top right corner of the goal to tie the game once more to ignite the Agganis crowd.
The visitors withstood late pressure the Terriers, however, and despite adding an extra attacker for 1:16 late in the game, BU was unable to come up with another equalizer.
The two teams will complete their season series on Saturday (Nov. 22) at Agganis beginning at 7 p.m.