BOSTON - Five different Terriers lit the lamp and junior Drew Commesso stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced as the No. 5 Boston University men's ice hockey team defeated Maine, 5-1, on Friday night at Agganis Arena.
BU (16-6-0, 10-4-0 HE) scored twice within the first 4:05 and never looked back, eventually taking a 4-0 lead midway through the second period and adding a fifth goal in the final frame. Senior Matt Brown became the first Terrier to reach double digits in goals, with his 10th goal of the season proving to be the game-winner. He also added an assist to join freshman Lane Hutson (2a) as Terriers with multiple points.
Juniors Luke Tuch and Nick Zabaneh both lit the lamp, as did senior Jay O'Brien and freshman Devin Kaplan. Freshmen Ryan Greene and Jeremy Wilmer, sophomore Ty Gallagher, junior Cade Webber, and seniors Wilmer Skoog, Sam Stevens and Case McCarthy each had one assist apiece.
The Terriers' 16-6-0 record is their highest win total through 22 games since they began the 2008-09 campaign at 16-5-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- BU needed just 1:53 to get on the board and it came thanks to some slick passing. Wilmer fed the puck to Greene at the top of the crease. With his back to the net, Greene collected the puck on his forehand and quickly dished a no-look backhand pass around his defender to Tuch at the right post. Tuch finished the play into the wide-open net for his fifth goal of the season.
- Brown extended the lead to 2-0 at 4:05 of the opening frame. During a delayed penalty, Brown and Kaplan skated into the Maine zone on a 2-on-1, with Brown firing the puck inside the left post for his 10th goal of the season.
- BU was unable to capitalize on the ensuing five-minute major, however, and the score remained 2-0 after 20 minutes.
- Stevens and Zabaneh combined on a 2-on-1 of their own to push the advantage to 3-0 just 3:52 into the second stanza. Stevens' patience helped set up the goal, as he waited for the defender to commit before curling a pass around the diving Black Bear and onto the stick of Zabaneh, who converted at the right post for his fifth goal of the season.
- O'Brien then made it 4-0 at 9:23 of the middle period when his shot from the right point got through some traffic in front of Victor Ostman (28 saves) and into the back of the net.
- The Black Bears got a goal back on a delayed penalty with 2:05 remaining in the frame, but BU killed the Maine power play that followed to take a three-goal lead into the third.
- Kaplan regained the Terriers' four-goal advantage with 8:11 remaining in regulation with a nifty backhander from the hash marks for his seventh strike of the season.
GAME NOTES
- Kaplan has totaled nine points (4g, 5a) over his last seven appearances.
- Hutson has now recorded a point in six straight games, totaling two goals and five assists for seven points in that stretch.
- Brown extended his point streak to four games (2g, 4a) and has tallied four points (1g, 3a) over the last two games.
- Brown became the first Terrier to 10 goals, 20 assists and 30 points this season.
- O'Brien pushed his point streak to four games, having recorded one goal and four assists in that span.
- McCarthy, the reigning Hockey East Defender of the Week, has notched four assists during his current three-game point streak.
- Greene (3a) and Zabaneh (2g, 1a) both improved their respective point streaks to three games.
- BU went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play.
- The Terriers have killed 19 of the last 20 power plays they have faced.
UP NEXT
- BU and Maine will conclude this weekend's series on Saturday night at Agganis.
- Puck drop is set for 6 p.m.
