BURLINGTON, Vt. - Junior Dylan Peterson tallied two goals while senior Domenick Fensore and sophomore Ty Gallagher collected two assists apiece as the No. 9/8 Boston University men's ice hockey team defeated Vermont, 5-3, on Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
With the win, BU (21-10-0, 15-6-0 HE) clinched home ice in the Hockey East quarterfinals. The Terriers also moved back into first place in the Hockey East standings with three games remaining in the regular season.
Peterson bookended the scoring with his third and fourth goals of the season. Junior Luke Tuch, freshman Devin Kaplan and freshman Quinn Hutson also lit the lamp, with Hutson's third-period strike proving to be the game-winner. Senior Jamie Armstrong secured an assist in his return to the lineup while classmate Case McCarthy notched an assist in his 100th game as a Terrier. Seniors Jay O'Brien, Matt Brown, Wilmer Skoog also had an assist, as did freshman Ryan Greene.
BU and Vermont (9-17-5, 4-14-3 HE) were deadlocked, 2-2, entering the third period before the Terriers scored the first two goals of the final frame.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- BU needed just 33 seconds to get on the board. Armstrong got the puck to Gallagher at the right point. Peterson redirected Gallagher's shot past Gabe Carriere (31 saves) for his third goal of the season.
- UVM took advantage of a tough bounce for BU, as the puck caromed right to a wide-open Andrei Buyalski in front of the net. Buyalski backhanded a puck past junior Drew Commesso (19 saves) from the top of the crease.
- Tuch regained the lead for BU at 16:16 of the second stanza when he positioned himself in the left circle and one-timed an O'Brien feed past Carriere.
- The Terriers should have had a two-goal lead seconds later, but instead took a tough slashing call. While UVM didn't score on the ensuing power play, the Catamounts did even the score with 1:05 to play in the period.
- Kaplan regained the Terriers' lead just 1:25 into the final frame. Brown dished it to Kaplan on a 2-on-1, and with the defender playing the pass, Kaplan took his ice and fired home his ninth goal of the season.
- Hutson added to the lead 1:39 later when he drove to the net and tapped in a feed from Fensore.
- Vermont cut the deficit to 4-3 at the 11:03 mark, but Peterson iced the game with an empty-netter with less than a minute to play.
GAME NOTES
- The Terriers have won seven straight games at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
- Brown, the league leader in points with 41, has notched a point in each of the last three games.
- Kaplan became the ninth Terrier and fifth BU freshman to reach 20 points thanks to his goal.
- BU went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and was unable to score on its only power-play chance of the game.
- Fensore has recorded two assists in two of the last four games.
- Greene has secured a point in three of the last four games.
UP NEXT
- BU and Vermont will conclude this weekend's series on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
