AMHERST, Mass. - Jason Lawrence's hat-trick led No. 1 Boston University to a comeback win over UMass Hockey Friday night at the Mullins Center, 6-3. The Minutemen jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before the Terriers scored six unanswered goals to put the game away. Topher Bevis netted a goal and an assist for UMass (14-16-3, 9-12-3 HEA) while Paul Dainton made 32 saves in goal for the Minutemen. The two teams will square off again tomorrow in the series finale at Agganis Arena. Gametime is scheduled for 8 PM.
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The Terriers (25-5-4, 16-5-4 HEA) outshot UMass 38-21 for the game, and went 3-for-7 on the power play. The Minutemen were 0-for-6 on the man-advantage, and only generated two shots on goal while on the power play.
UMass took a 1-0 lead at 9:08 of the first period when Shawn Sanders made a pass off the boards at center ice springing Casey Wellman and T.J. Syner on a 2-on-1. Wellman centered to Syner who finished the pretty play with a shot into the top right corner of the net for his sixth goal of the season.
Topher Bevis netted his third of the season at 19:04 for a 2-0 UMass advantage. Only three seconds after a Boston University penalty was released, Bevis corralled a loose puck in the slot and beat Terriers goaltender Kieran Millan low and to the blocker side.
The Minutemen quickly extended their lead only 55 seconds into the second period when Michael Lecomte scored his second of the season. Bevis' shot from the point was saved by Millan, but it trickled behind him, so Hobbs poked the puck into the open net for the 3-0 lead. Following the goal, Grant Rollheiser replaced Millan between the pipes.
Boston University came alive with three goals in a span of 10:42, two on the power play, to tie the score at 3-3. The first strike came from Matt Gilroy, who had his shot blocked, then corralled his own rebound to beat Dainton who was playing with a forward's stick after losing his earlier on the power play opportunity.
The Terriers made it a one-goal game with 5:26 left in the second when Gilroy took a feed from Nick Bonino and one-timed it past Dainton for the score.
The Terriers came all the way back when Kevin Shattenkirk, who was stationed in the left wing circle, set up Lawrence at the side of the crease. Lawrence easily tapped it past Dainton to make it 3-3 at 17:11.
Boston University wasted no time taking the lead in the third period, scoring just 27 seconds into the frame when Lawrence netted his second goal of the night off a feed from Colin Wilson.
Three minutes later, Lawrence completed the natural hat-trick when he took a shot from below the faceoff dot that got under Dainton's arm for his 19th goal of the season. David Warsofsky closed out the Terrier scoring midway through the final frame with an unassisted marker to put the game out of reach for the Minutemen.