BOSTON — It wasn’t the dominant performance the Boston University men’s hockey team has come to expect against opponents like these, but all wins count the same.
After falling behind in the first period of Saturday’s Hockey East opener against the University of Connecticut, the Terriers did just enough to escape Agganis Arena with a 4-2 win.
UConn captain Hudson Scahdnor put the Huskies on the board at 16:44 of the first. Schadnor blocked a slapshot in his own zone and wound up alone on a breakaway. He slipped one through Mathieu Caron’s five hole to make it 1-0, marking the first time BU has trailed this season.
BU outshot UConn, 8-7, after 20 minutes, but it was a sluggish and lackluster period from the Terriers — the team’s second slow start in as many games.
In his weekly media call on Thursday, BU head coach Jay Pandolfo highlighted the importance of getting off to a better start, saying the team must have a “mindset to make sure that we’re ready when the puck drops.”
It was nowhere to be seen in the first period, but the Terriers skated with an increased level of energy and focus to start the second.
It paid off 1:22 into the frame, thanks to an impressive individual effort from Cole Eiserman. The freshman forward picked up the puck at the bottom of the circle and cut to the net, flipping it in with a pretty backhand finish. Eiserman has now scored in each of his first three collegiate games, but this was his first at even strength.
A strong shift from the fourth line of freshman Alex Zetterberg, freshman Brandon Svoboda and senior Tristan Amonte immediately followed, and the Terriers controlled most of the period.
And it was that fourth line that gave the Terriers a 2-1 lead, with Svoboda scoring his first collegiate goal at 16:26 of the second. A tic-tac-toe passing play from Zetterberg and Amonte found Svoboda waiting just to the left of the net. The speedy center took a few strides and snuck one past Heaney.
Senior forward Matt Copponi briefly exited for the locker room after he was crunched into the boards by UConn defenseman John Spetz at 9:07 of the third. Spetz was called for a five-minute major and game misconduct after several minutes of review, and the Terriers cashed in seconds into the ensuing power play.
Eiserman batted the puck past Heaney at 9:26 of the third to make it 3-1, although UConn’s Jake Percival responded with a shorthanded goal 44 seconds later to cut the Terriers’ lead in half.
But sophomore defenseman Tom Willander gave the Terriers some needed insurance with a tally at 17:43 of the third to make give BU a 4-2 advantage.
Pandolfo only made one change to his lineup from last Saturday, bumping senior Jack Hughes to the second line and dropping Eiserman to the third line. The move seemed to pay off. Eiserman looked confident playing alongside his former U.S. National U18 Team linemate, Kamil Bednarik, who seemed to benefit from playing with Eiserman, too.
And although sophomore defenseman Aiden Celebrini was listed alongside grad student Brehdan Engum on the line chart, it was sophomore Mick Frechette — not Celebrini — playing with Engum from the second period on.
Engum and Frechette are both left-shot defenseman, so Engum slid over to the right side to accommodate the pairing.
The Terriers will play Harvard in an exhibition at Agganis Arena tomorrow night. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
