Junior forward Nick Zabaneh scored a hat trick for the Terriers
Zabaneh Hat Trick Leads Boston University Past Vermont, 7-3, in Hockey East Quarterfinal
Junior forward Nick Zabaneh scored a hat trick for the Terriers

Box Score - Highlights

BOSTON, Mass. - Junior Nick Zabaneh recorded his first hat trick as a Terrier while classmate Dylan Peterson and freshman Jeremy Wilmer each collected a career-best three assists to help lead the No. 5/6 Boston University men's ice hockey team to a 7-3 victory over Vermont in a Hockey East quarterfinal contest on Saturday at Agganis Arena.,

BU (25-10-0) never trailed, with the Terriers scoring three times in a span of 3:00 to build a 3-0 lead. Zabaneh scored two of those goals, with senior Jamie Armstrong lighting the lamp in that span as well. Senior Wilmer Skoog scored two goals while freshman Quinn Hutson closed the scoring with his 13th goal of the season.

All five freshmen in the lineup got on the score sheet, as Ryan Greene, Lane Hutson, Devin Kaplan each had one assist apiece. Senior Case McCarthy assisted on two of the Terriers' three third-period goals while senior Sam Stevens, sophomore Ty Gallagher and senior Jay O'Brien also had one assist each. BU outshot Vermont, 50-22, with junior Drew Commesso making 19 saves.

The top-seeded Terriers will face the lowest-seeded team remaining in the Hockey East semifinals on Friday at TD Garden.


HOW IT HAPPENED

- Zabaneh got the Terriers on the board just 5:49 into the proceedings. Peterson collected an outlet pass from Wilmer and skated up the right wing, eluding a Vermont defender and sliding a pass across the top of the crease to Zabaneh, who rushed to join the play after winning the defensive-zone faceoff that started the sequence.

- Armstrong doubled the Terriers' lead when he redirected a Gallagher shot at the 7:03 mark.

- Zabaneh made it 3-0 just 1:46 later when he converted a rebound off a Peterson shot.

- UVM got a goal back at 11:42 of the first, but Skoog closed the period with a power-play strike with just 1:31 on the clock.

- After a scoreless second stanza, the Catamounts got back within two just 1:10 into the final frame.

- BU responded immediately, as Zabaneh completed his hat trick just 13 seconds after the UVM goal. Peterson raced the puck into the offensive end and dropped it for Zabaneh, who fired a shot past Gabe Carriere (43 saves).

- Vermont potted another goal at the 5:17 mark, but Skoog's second of the day at 7:43 pushed the BU lead back to three.

- Hutson capped the scoring with a perfectly placed shot on the power play after Greene and Kaplan did well to retrieve the puck off a faceoff win.


GAME NOTES

- Zabaneh recorded the Terriers' 13th hat trick in Hockey East playoff history and the first since David Van der Gulik's hat trick in the 2006 semifinals.

- This was Wilmer's second three-assist game of the season; he also had three helpers in a 5-1 win over Air Force on Jan. 6.

- Peterson notched three assists for the first time as a Terrier, though this was his second three-point game of the season; he tallied one goal and two assists in a 6-3 win over Boston College on Jan. 27.

- Peterson assisted on all three of Zabaneh's goals.

- For the second straight game, Stevens and Gallagher assisted on a goal by Armstrong.

- This was the Terriers' first time recording 50 shots on goal since they fired 50 shots on Northeastern in a 5-5 tie on Nov. 1, 2018.

- BU has won 13 straight playoff games at Agganis.

- The Terriers have now scored at least seven goals on four different occasions this season and have scored at least six goals nine different times.

- The Terriers went 2-for-4 on the power play against Vermont.