Game 27 Recap: BU 5, UMass-Lowell 3

While nearly being guilty of looking past the River Hawks, BU managed to pull away in the third period, defeating Lowell by a final of 5-3.  Vinny Saponari would provide the heroics, putting away the game winner midway through the third period.  However, with the way this game started out, the final score is actually quite deceiving.

 

Both teams started out fairly slowly, seemingly feeling each other out.  However, beginning at 7:34 into the first, BU would put on an offensive show in a span of two minutes that left spectators with no doubt that the Terriers were the #1 team in the nation, potting three goals.  David Warsofsky would open the scoring with his first collegiate goal.  Less than a minute later, Joe Pereria would take a nice feed from Kevin Shattenkirk, pushing one past River Hawk netminder Carter Hutton despite falling down.  Less than a minute after that, John McCarthy would tip in a Nick Bonino feed to push the score to 3-0.  For an exclamation point, Eric Gryba provided the assist on two of the goals, his first multi point game as a Terrier.  Millan would not be able to hold the shutout, with Nick Monroe putting one past him late in the first.

In the second, it seemed like things were starting to get unravelled for the Terriers.  After dominating territorially in the 1st, Lowell would control play, keeping BU pinned in their zone for extended periods of time.  Their efforts would pay off, as Mike Potacco would a shot past Millan at 10:08.  Exactly 8 minutes later, David Vallorani would shoot one in off Colby Cohen’s skate, tying up the game.  

It would be the heralded BU power play that would come to the rescue.  The Terriers struck twice on the power play in the third, effectively putting the game out of reach for Lowell. The River Hawks did play a very good game, and BU was on its heels.  However, characteristic of a #1 team, the Terriers battled through the adversity, pulling off the win.

Other Recaps available: USCHO  –  Hockey East

The Good

 

• The offensive outburst in the first.
• The power play in the third.
• Eric Gryba got two points?!?!

 

The Bad

 

• Terriers seemed complacent after gaining the big lead.  This will not work against NU.
• Colin Wilson has not been the dominant player he’s capable of being in the past few games.
• Kieran Millan has not been as solid.

 

The main part of this game is that it was a win.  It would have been all to easy to look past this game, but it puts the Terriers in a very strong spot.  21 wins already this season, and a chance to put together a perfect out of conference record tomorrow night at the Beanpot against Northeastern.  I’m not going to preview the game, because I didn’t last time and I’m suspicious like that.  However, I can tell you that I’m more than excited about the game.  See you all tomorrow night, at the Garden!

Pictures of this game will be available on my Flickr page soon!

Image Credit: Hockey East Online

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!