By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The No. 13 Boston University Terriers will have to go to three games if they hope to advance to the Hockey East semifinals. BU fell to Northeastern University, 4-2, on Thursday night.

The game was poorly attended, and the team at times appeared just as flat as the atmosphere in the rink. BU finished the night 1-for-9 on the power play and was unable to capitalize on a 5-on-3 and a 6-on-4. Junior goaltender Kieran Millan finished the night with 26 saves, but did not look sharp in the effort.

“I thought we got beat by a team that was a little more determined, a little hungrier than we were,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “I thought that some guys played well and some guys for us didn’t have anywhere the nights we needed them to have. In general, we got outworked.”

Northeastern scored first at 8:16 in the first period. Sophomore defenseman Ryan Ruikka had been whistled off for a hooking penalty, and BU’s first penalty kill unit struggled to clear the puck out of the zone. A little more than a minute into the kill, Northeastern senior Steve Silva gathered a rebound below the left circle and fired it past Millan.

The Terriers answered the Northeastern tally quickly. Only 41 seconds after Silva’s score, a frenzy of BU players surrounded Rawlngs. Junior assistant captain David Warsofsky shot into the crowd of people, and sophomore forward Justin Courtnall took one last whack at the puck to help it skid across the goal line.

But it was the Huskies who had the last word in the first period. With 7 minutes remaining in the period, the Silva almost scored for the second time in the period, but his shot was denied by the crossbar. The Huskies cashed in at 1:55 when Wade MacLeod’s shot hit Millan’s left shoulder and then trickled past him.

BU struggled through the opening minutes of the second period. The Terriers had a power play early in the period in which they spent most of the time in their own zone. Once Northeastern killed off the penalty, they really got going. At 2:53 into the second period, the Huskies increased their lead to 3-1 when Braden Pimm raced up the left side past three BU players and slid the puck through Millan’s five-hole.

Silva scored his second goal of the evening at 8:42 in the second period when his shot from the point hit a BU defender and fluttered past Millan into the netting to put Northeastern up, 4-1.

“The first half of the second period I thought was the worst time for us,” Parker said. “I thought the second half of the second period we played really well. We had the puck down in their zone quite a bit, controlling the puck, getting some opportunities. But it’s still 4-1 at the end of the period.”

Ruikka cut the Northeastern lead in half in the third on a power play. Freshman forward Sahir Gill started the play with a pass from the point down low to freshman forward Charlie Coyle, who took the initial shot on net. Ruikka scooped up the rebound and slide the puck past Rawlings from the lower left circle.

But for the Terriers, Ruikka’s tally was too little, too late. BU now enters Friday night’s game with their backs against the wall and the season on the line.

“Obviously, we didn’t play as well as we would have liked,” junior co-captain Chris Connolly said. “We weren’t as determined as we need to be. I don’t think it was from lack of preparation or being ready to go. It’s just playoff hockey, so it’s different. The guys got to realize that. The series isn’t won in one game, so we just have to move on from this and know we still have life tomorrow.”