BOSTON - Four different Terriers tallied at least three points as the No. 5 Boston University men's ice hockey team completed a weekend sweep of Maine with a 9-6 victory on Saturday night at Agganis Arena.
BU (17-6-0, 11-4-0 HE) led 4-0 late in the first period before Maine (9-12-2, 3-8-1 HE) notched five of the game's next six goals to even the score at 5-5 in the second stanza. That was as close as the Black Bears got, however, as BU rattled off four straight goals, including three in the first 8:39 of the third period, to pull away and pick up its fourth consecutive victory.
Seven different Terriers lit the lamp on Saturday. Senior Matt Brown led the Terriers with four points on one goal and three assists, his third four-point game of the season. Senior Wilmer Skoog and freshman Jeremy Wilmer each collected two goals and one assist for three points while freshmen brothers Lane and Quinn Hutson each recorded one goal and two assists as part of their respective three-point evenings.
Sophomore Ty Gallagher scored his first goal of the season and junior Luke Tuch lit the lamp for the second time this weekend and the third time in his last four games. Freshman Ryan Greene and senior Jay O'Brien each secured a pair of assists while senior Case McCarthy, freshman Devin Kaplan and senior Sam Stevens all added one assist apiece.
Juniors Drew Commesso (12 saves) and Vinny Duplessis (nine saves) combined to stop 21 shots, with Duplessis earning his fifth win of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Skoog scored twice in the first 4:28 to give BU an early 2-0 lead. His first goal came just 36 seconds into the contest when Kaplan drew the eyes of the Maine defense towards him in the corner before threading a pass to Skoog in the right circle. Skoog faked a shot to get his defender to commit and skated to his left before uncorking a shot past Victor Ostman (four saves).
- The Swede's second strike was a beautiful wrister from the bottom of the left circle as the Terriers transitioned into the offensive end.
- Brown then pushed the lead to 3-0 when he picked the top corner on the power play at 7:56 of the first.
- Lane Hutson made it 4-0 with 5:15 left in the first period when he beat Connor Androlewicz (23 saves) with a backhander, but the Black Bears responded with three straight goals to make it a one-goal game after 20 minutes.
- Wilmer put the Terriers up by two with his first goal of the night just 2:41 into the second stanza. Greene rushed into the Maine zone and carried the puck all the way below the goal line before finding Wilmer in the right circle for a one-timer.
- The Black Bears responded at the 5:54 mark and then tied the score less than 2:00 later.
- Maine thought it had taken its first lead of the game at 11:26 of the second but a successful challenge for goaltender interference negated the goal.
- Gallagher gave BU a lead it never relinquished just 1:43 after that review when his shot from the top of the zone ricocheted off a Maine defender and into the back of the net.
- The Hutson brothers connected just 2:26 into the final frame to extend the lead to 7-5, as Lane fired a pass from one blue line to the other, springing Quinn for a breakaway bid that he converted on for his ninth goal of the season.
- Wilmer and Tuch tallied power-play goals 3:07 apart to make it 9-5 with 11:21 remaining in regulation.
- Nolan Renwick got a goal back for Maine with 3:29 on the clock to close the scoring.
GAME NOTES
- Twelve different Terriers completed a multi-point weekend against Maine.
- BU went 3-for-3 on the power play Saturday.
- This was the most goals by the Terriers since a 9-3 win over UMass Lowell on Dec. 9, 2017.
- Two different Terrier forward lines combined for eight points each on Saturday, as the line of Wilmer (2g, 1a), Greene (2a) and Quinn Hutson (1g, 2a) recorded three goals and five assists between them while the trio of Brown (1g, 3a), Skoog (2g, 1a) and Kaplan (1a) did the same.
- This was the second time that the line of Wilmer, Greene and Hutson combined for eight points, as they also did that in the Terriers' season-opening 8-2 win over Bentley on Oct. 1.
- BU also had seven different goal scorers in that win over Bentley.
- Lane Hutson has now recorded a point in seven straight games, totaling three goals and seven assists for 10 points in that stretch.
- Brown extended his point streak to five games (3g, 7a) and has tallied eight points (2g, 6a) over the last three games.
- Brown now leads Hockey East with 34 points and is second nationally with 23 assists.
- O'Brien pushed his point streak to five games, having recorded one goal and six assists in that span.
- McCarthy, the reigning Hockey East Defender of the Week, and Greene have notched five assists during their respective four-game point streaks.
UP NEXT
The Battle of Comm. Ave. takes center stage next weekend as the Terriers and No. 18 Eagles begin a home-and-home series at Agganis on Friday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m.
