BOSTON — In the first two years of the Jay Pandolfo era, Agganis Arena has been a house of horrors for opponents of the Boston University men’s hockey team.
Not recently.
Before last weekend, the Terriers had lost just five games on home ice since Pandolfo took over before the 2022-23 season. Since then, they’ve lost three times at Agganis.
UMass Lowell was the latest beneficiary of those struggles. The No. 17 River Hawks (6-1-0 , 2-0-0 Hockey East) waltzed onto Comm. Ave. Friday night and stunned the home crowd with a 5-3 win, marking a third consecutive loss on home ice for the No. 9 Terriers (4-4-0, 1-1-0 HE).
Three takeaways and a rundown of how it happened, below.
Again, a late penalty was a killer for BU
BU head coach Jay Pandolfo has emphasized the importance of discipline, since bad penalties have been a vice for the Terriers so far.
And, once again, a bad penalty came back to haunt BU Friday night. This time, it was Jack Hughes, who took a cross-checking minor at 10:46 of the third with the game knotted at three. The River Hawks made no mistake, scoring 42 seconds into the ensuing power play.
That was UMass Lowell’s only power play of the game, an encouraging sign, but it came at a costly moment.
A brutal first half of the second period
After entering the period with a 1-0 advantage, the Terriers imploded in a manner reminiscent of last Friday’s third period against Michigan.
BU was sloppy from the opening moments of the period, with turnovers plaguing the team. Even some of the Terriers’ most reliable skaters, like sophomore captain Shane Lachance, made uncharacteristic mistakes.
And much like the third period against the Wolverines last Friday, BU seemed to play worse after its opponent scored a goal. If the Terriers want to achieve the lofty goals they’ve set for themselves, they’ll need to improve their immediate response to adversity.
Lachance was a silver lining
Putting his aforementioned turnover aside, Lachance carried BU’s offense Friday night. He scored twice — both on the power play.
He showcased his gritty playstyle on both tallies, scoring both from his usual spot at the bumper on BU’s first power play unit, which also features Quinn Hutson, Ryan Greene, Cole Eiserman and Cole Hutson.
He also looked good reunited with his linemates from the first few games of the season, Quinn Hutson and Greene.
How it happened
After yet another quiet start, the Terriers did not record a shot on goal until the 11:55 mark of the first period. The consolation? The Terriers took a 1-0 lead on their first, a Shane Lachance tip off a Quinn Hutson blast on the power play.
But the River Hawks struck back at 2:11 of the second. Positioned just above the crease, junior forward Connor Eddy redirected a shot from the point toward the net, and the puck trickled through senior goalie Mathieu Caron and just across the line.
UMass Lowell’s Ian Carpentier gave his team a 2-1 advantage at 7:37 of the second, capitalizing on a Lachance turnover.
Just over two minutes later, the River Hawks netted another on a blue-line slapshot from grad student defenseman Ben Meehan.
That sapped the energy from a stunned Agganis Arena, until Lachance took matters into his own hands on the power play.
On a perfectly-executed play, Cole Eiserman received the puck at the right circle and wound up for a one-timer. But instead of shooting it, the freshman forward delivered a pass right to the stick of Lachance, who was wide open at the doorstep.
At 9:00 of the third period, Eiserman did it himself, ripping a wrister past Welsch to knot the game at three.
But UMass Lowell pulled away with a pair of tallies in the third. Libor Nemec beat Caron on the power play at 11:28, and junior forward Dillan Bentley made it 5-3 with a wrister 34 seconds later.
This story will be updated.
