NEW YORK –– Trailing 3-1 at the start of the third period, the Boston University men’s hockey team dominated No. 7/8 Cornell University in the final 20 minutes and forced a 3-3 tie in the second Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden. Sophomore forward Chris Connolly scored the equalizer with 51 seconds remaining.

Entering the game, the Big Red (6-2-1) had outscored their opponents, 16-6, in the third period. On Saturday night, though, the Terriers (4-7-2) recorded 34 shot attempts and 13 shots on goal in the final stanza compared to just seven attempts and three on net for Cornell. Even more impressive was the fact that BU tallied 10 chances from the slot or closer while holding the Big Red to zero.

Instead, he just made one up.

“I thought the best part about the game was our ‘stick-to-itiveness,’” Parker said.

The words “determination” or “resolve” might have worked as well, but suffice to say, as the Terriers attempted to dig themselves out of two separate two-goal deficits Saturday, their “stick-to-it-ness” was undoubtedly tested.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Head coach Mike Schafer

Opening statement

It was a great event. We got off to a good start. Obviously, I’m disappointed in the fact that it ended up being a tie. But I’m proud of our guys. They battled tonight and we got the lead, but we couldn’t hold on. BU made it 3-3 and really kept at it in the third period. We hit a couple posts and crossbars in overtime, but like I said, BU did a good job of keeping their game and scoring on the 6-on-4 to tie it up.

On coming out strong in overtime after giving up the tying goal in the final minute of regulation

When they made it 3-2, we stopped making plays. Then they make it 3-3. I think we had to kill of three penalties in the third period. Once we got back to even strength, we got back to making some plays. We had a couple good offensive opportunities, and we had a couple other odd-man rushes where we just didn’t get it to the open guy. Sometimes that happens. You’re right where you want, but I think we started protecting the lead and sitting back a little bit too much. You tell your guys that they have to start risking, start making plays. We just didn’t take care of the puck. A turnover led right to one of their goals. I thought we came out in overtime and had a couple real good offensive opportunities to win the game.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

BU coach Jack Parker’s opening statement:

By Scott McLaughlin and Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

The Boston University men’s hockey team plays its first of two regular-season games at marquee venues when it faces No. 7/8 Cornell University at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night (8 p.m.) in the return of Red Hot Hockey.

Two years ago, the Terriers defeated the Big Red, 6-3, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,200 in the first Red Hot Hockey. The showcase is certainly bigger than most regular-season games in the minds of fans, but is it bigger in the minds of the coaches and players?

“Absolutely,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “Because of the renewal of the rivalry, because of the venue. It gets everybody jacked up.

“And non-league games are real important in the selection process. We have a long way to go to get ourselves into that picture, but if we can get this win, that’ll really help us. But the most important thing is that we continue to play well.”

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Photo by U-Jin Lee/DFP Staff

Hard work. Grit. Determination. These things don’t show up in box scores. They don’t need to. It doesn’t take a hockey expert to know when they’re present and when they’re not.

For most of the Boston University men’s hockey team’s 2009-10 season, these intangibles haven’t been there. In Tuesday night’s 6-5 overtime victory at Harvard University, however, the Terriers put these characteristics on full display for all 3,076 Bright Hockey Center patrons to witness.

For almost all of the game’s 62-plus minutes, the Terriers battled along the boards to move pucks, grinded in the corners to keep plays alive and won races to loose pucks to create chances.

It was this constant perseverance that enabled BU to come from behind four different times to tie the game, culminating in senior forward Zach Cohen’s overtime-forcing goal with just 19.5 seconds left in regulation.

By Rene Reyes/DFP Staff

Photo by U-Jin Lee/DFP Staff

The Boston University men’s hockey team fell behind 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 on Tuesday night, but senior forward Zach Cohen’s goal with 19.5 seconds remaining in regulation tied the score at five, and sophomore forward Chris Connolly provided the heroics with the game-winning goal in overtime, giving BU a thrilling 6-5 victory over Harvard University at Bright Hockey Center.

“Overall, it was an unbelievably exciting hockey game,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “I was looking at the shots we were getting, and when we scored the winning goal I said to [assistant coach] Mike Bavis, ‘I wish we’d gotten one more shot so we could have gotten the winner on the 50th shot instead of the 49th.’

“But I thought it was a great effort by everybody. I thought [Harvard] played really hard, we played really hard, and nobody wanted to give up anything. When you score late like we did, it’s very fortunate to get a W. But when you score late, you have the momentum going into the overtime, and we certainly had that.”

By Cary Betagole/DFP Staff

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Saponari

On his goal

Zach made a nice pass across, and I was just trying to spin to protect the puck, and I just took a shot at the net. I think it bounced off a UNH player, so I had a little bit of luck there, but I’ll take it.

On the play of his line

Me and Corey got to play together a lot last year too, and we’ve always kind of clicked together. Zach’s a big kid, and he works hard, so he’s easy to play with. We got the chance to play back-to-back nights together, which is always nice because you get a little more chemistry when you get used to guys. We’ve been practicing like that for a while, too, so it’s been going well for us.

Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Opening statement

In general, I thought that it was a really exciting game to watch, unbelievably exciting. The difference between last night’s game and tonight’s game was night and day for both teams. I didn’t think we played that well last night. I didn’t think UNH played that well last night. I thought both teams played really well tonight. I think we needed the win more than they did, so they’re probably happy to get three points on the weekend. And we only get one, so that really hurts us. That was the only negative thing about the game for me. We come back, we gave up a goal right off the bat, they get a power-play goal in the third period, and then we come back and get one for ourselves to tie it up. In general, we had opportunities to win it on more than one occasion.

I thought Shattenkirk and Cohen played great tonight. I thought they played well last night, but tonight they played absolutely fabulous. And I thought Bonino came out of it a little bit tonight. He got his legs back a little bit tonight, made some plays. I thought most guys competed pretty hard. We had a couple of our guys that we usually use killing penalties not in the lineup, and that really hurt us as far as numbers are concerned. And they had six power plays, which hurt us as well. Six and two is not a good ratio. Six for them and two for us. In general, I thought Rollheiser played extremely well. Their goalie played really well. We both had chances to win it. The puck was around both nets a lot.

Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Dick Umile

Opening statement

I would say, as a spectator, it was probably a heck of a game to watch. There was some pretty good action going on back and forth. Both teams had a chance to win it. The lead went back and forth. We came back in the third, tied it up and went ahead. We executed on the power play to tie it up. And I think after that, both teams had a chance to win it in regulation as well. We had a power play in overtime and couldn’t get it by him. At this point, for the weekend, I told my team they competed hard and I’ll take the three points for the weekend and move on.

On the play of Brian Foster

He’s been playing well for us. You can’t look at his numbers and save percentage and goals against and think that he’s not playing well, because he’s been playing pretty well for us all season, and that’s what he’s done for us tonight. He made some key saves at key times when he needed to. Breakaway early in the game, I think it was Pereira, it was a great move and a great save.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Opening statement

I thought we played OK in the beginning. I thought we played pretty well in the second period. I thought we looked like we ran out of gas, like we were skating in sand. The difference in the speed of the game between UNH and BU in the third period was like night and day. That coupled with the fact that they do real well in their special teams –– they did a good job killing penalties, they did a great job in the power play. And they got two faceoff goals. Both exactly the same –– just win it straight back. One of them goes to the point. One of them goes to a shooter in the slot and we don’t get a neutral faceoff there. That play by our center, it looked like the referee threw it back to him. Nothing you can do about that for our goaltender. We should have had somebody in line to block the shot and we didn’t.

I was disappointed in how unthorough we were. I was disappointed in how slow we looked as the game progressed. We turned pucks over at blue lines. We had opportunities to make some plays and we fumbled them. We were forcing pucks, and then we were just hanging on too long sometimes. And I thought UNH out-battled us. As the game progressed, I thought they just out-battled us. All in all, not a good show.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

DURHAM, N.H. –– It’s not often that the Boston University men’s hockey team and the University of New Hampshire meet with both teams seemingly struggling to keep their skates beneath them.

After Friday night’s game, it’s starting to look like one team has finally found its footing. Unfortunately for Terrier Nation, that team is not the Scarlet and White.

With a 4-2 win in front of the home crowd at Whittemore Center Arena, the Wildcats (4-6-2, 4-2-1 Hockey East) catapulted themselves into a tie for first in the conference with Boston College.

With the loss, the Terriers (3-7-0, 2-6-0), entrenched themselves one game deeper into Hockey East’s cellar, maintaining just a two-point lead over Providence College for last place, despite playing twice as many conference games as the Friars.

“I think we were ready to play tonight. We just looked slow,” Parker said. “I don’t know what that’s all about . . . I don’t think we looked slow because we weren’t physically or mentally ready to play, though.

“We looked like we ran out of gas, like we were skating in sand. The difference in the speed of the game between UNH and BU in the third period was like night and day.”

The only possible explanation Parker could come up with for his team’s sluggishness was a flu bug that has hit the Terriers over the last couple days.

“[Junior forward Nick] Bonino was sick all day. He looked it,” Parker said. “[Freshman forward Wade Megan] was sick for the last two days . . . Maybe the flu bug is attacking a few more guys. We’ve had a few guys who’ve had it, and a few guys just getting over it. So, that’s a problem.”

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

By Jake Seiner and Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

The Boston Bruins dropped their third straight game Monday night, falling 4-1 to the New York Islanders. Continuing a troubling trend of late, Boston came out of the gates slow and never really seemed to ratchet up the intensity as the game went on.

Be sure to check in later as Scott McLaughlin live blogs tonight's B's-Isles game.

In a 6-3 loss to Merrimack College Friday night, the No. 17 Boston University men’s hockey team hit rock bottom, by BU coach Jack Parker’s account.

After the Terriers outshot the Warriors, 12-5, and dominated the time-of-possession battle in the first period, BU unraveled mentally, Parker said.

By Cary Betagole/DFP Staff

Opening statement

Well, let's pick out all the positive things, and there were a lot of them. I thought that my goaltender played real well tonight, for the first time since shutting out Providence in this building last year. We needed a win and he got it for us. He stood tall in the third period especially. I thought despite the fact that we gave up three power-play goals, we did a pretty good job killing penalties. We had so many to kill. And the 5-on-3 really got a couple guys exhausted. They scored a 5-on-4 because the 5-on-3 guys were exhausted and couldn't get off the ice when it was 5-on-4. We had gone quite a long time without getting a 5-on-5 goal and we got a few tonight. Nice to get Rollheiser back. Obviously nice to get Bonino back. Probably, we'll have the guys who were out of the lineup back next week, give us a little different look in our lineup.

But these guys played pretty hard tonight. I thought everyone played pretty hard most of the time, played stupid sometimes with penalties. I thought our forecheck was great, the way we were playing it against their stretch. Then we got caught off-guard with the defense crashing, gave them a 2-on-1 for a goal to make it too close a game than it should have been. Nice to see Ross Gaudet get his first goal of his college career. I thought he played very, very well. I thought the best player on the ice for us was Joe Pereira. I thought he played great. Our All-American defensemen, Shattenkirk and Cohen, I try to keep both of them in sometimes with some of the plays they were making.

Once we were up 4-0, I thought we self-destructed two ways tonight. We got up 4-0, and I thought we tried to make too many cute plays, tried to make a big play instead of just playing them straight, the way we were playing them earlier. And then we self-destructed tonight because of the penalties we took. Real disheartening to see us, you know this game's in the bag, we're up 4-0, and all of the sudden we're making foolish, foolish decisions with the puck, and not protecting the puck thinking we can wheel out. The amount of turnovers we had in that second period was like night and day compared to how we played in the first period. And believe me, it wasn't them who was doing it to us. We had complete control of the puck, and then we just wanted to make something special happen and turn it over. But the 5-on-3 goal was huge in the second period when Colby got that. It was a bomb, which is what he can do. In general, it was a much-needed win.

Bonino on how it feels to be back

Aw, it felt great. I've been practicing for a couple weeks, and I knew I was getting closer to being ready to play. And they cleared me for this weekend, and they knew it was the minimum for this weekend, so just to go one. And it felt good. It felt good to be back in the locker room with the guys and getting prepared for the game on gameday instead of not getting prepared and not playing. So, it felt great to get back in the lineup and great to get a win.

Connolly on what clicked on the first line

Nick and I had played together a little bit last year and the start of this year. I knew Nick was going to be excited to play, and Joe brings a lot of energy to our line, works hard, frees up a lot of open space. And we just wanted to create opportunities, keep it down in their zone, and we were fortunate enough to be on the winning side of that.

Shattenkirk on what changed in 5-on-5 play

If you look back at the last couple games, we've had plenty of shots. There really wasn't a lot of traffic, and we were making it pretty easy for the goalie. Everyone just got a lot of traffic to the net, and we kind of surprised him on a few shots. It's just a matter of time before they started to fall because we were really pressing a lot of teams. It just wasn't bouncing for us.

Mark Dennehy

Opening statement

This is a good league, probably the best in the country. You can't spot any team in this league four goals.

On whether or not he had any regrets starting Braithewaite over Cannata

No, and I told Braithe, I'm not Mike Keenan. I very rarely take a goalie out. Usually, it's for his own good in the sense that I don't think we played very well in front of him. Sometimes your team needs a shake. Andrew Braithewaite's a good goalie. He's been a good goalie since he came to Merrimack, and I believe we have the best two goalies in the league.

On what happened in the first period

I didn't think that we were ready to play, but you don't know that until the puck drops.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Jack Parker

Opening statement

I was very, very disappointed in my team in the second period. We came unraveled. I thought we played a great first period. Then we come out and our goalie makes a fabulous save right off the bat. That should have re-ignited us a little bit. Instead, we just stood around and watched them.

We had a chance to clear the puck on the second goal. We wave at it and leave it right in front of our goalie, 15 feet out front, and one of the best scorers in the league comes in and puts it right by him. There’s no need for that puck to ever be there.

A 2-on-1, the defenseman doesn’t quite widen out and play his guy. The goalie’s got the shooter. They get a tap-in goal to make it 3-1, and then we wilted. I was extremely disappointed in our club after that.

I thought Adam Kraus competed like hell in the third period.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

NORTH ANDOVER –– If Friday night wasn’t rock bottom, it could be a long season for the No. 17 Boston University men’s hockey team. The Terriers dropped their fourth straight contest, this time losing 6-3 to Merrimack College at J. Thom Lawler Arena in embarrassing fashion.

After a solid first period in which BU (2-6-0, 1-5-0 Hockey East) outshot the Warriors (6-3-0, 3-1-0), 12-5, the teams entered the locker room tied at one. But then the Terriers fell apart faster than a sand castle during high tide, as they gave up four straight goals over the next 23 minutes.

By Cary Betagole/DFP Staff

NORTH ANDOVER -- Near the middle of the second period in Friday night's game, Merrimack College lost sight of its goal.

Or at the very least it became a little fuzzy.

Like a self-esteem challenged bully playing Phys. Ed. dodgeball, a 3-1 lead couldn't satisfy the Warriors. Insecurities loomed in the form of a good longterm memory, as Merrimack sought to physically punish BU for four years of perceived disrespect, racking up a slash, hook, board and hold between 10:21 and 8:18.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

Offense – C-

Not that there was much even-strength play to analyze in this game, but overall, the Terrier offense looked much the same as it has in past games. The shots are there. The chances are there. The goals are not, and they made yet another goaltender look like an NHL legend (BU coach Jack Parker has already cited Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante, might be time to go Terry Sawchuk?). Chris Connolly led the squad with six shots on net, followed by Kevin Shattenkirk with five and Vinny Saponari with four. Only three Terriers –– Ryan Santana, Ross Gaudet and Colby Cohen –– didn’t get at least one shot on Merrimack goalie Joe Cannata. It seems like everyone has a different theory on why the Terriers aren’t scoring even strength –– shooting too much at goalies’ chests, poor puck luck, etc. Either way, they’ve now scored just seven 5-on-5 goals in their last eight games. Something needs to change in the way this team is finishing.

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

Forget about the H1N1 virus. A different type of bug has been ravaging the home locker room at Agganis Arena –– the injury bug.

The No. 17 Boston University men’s hockey team already knew it would travel to Merrimack College Friday night without the services of Hobey Baker-candidate, junior Nick Bonino, and sophomore defenseman David Warsofsky.

Read more at The Daily Free Press.

As promised yesterday, Scott McLaughlin empties out his notebook (and tape recorder) to provide a handful of injury updates.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

On Oct. 16 against the Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins forward Mark Recchi recorded his 899th career assist, putting him one helper shy of becoming the 18th player in NHL history to reach the 900-assist plateau.

Nearly a month later, the 41-year-old winger still hadn’t notched No. 900.

Tuesday night, and fittingly a day after four of Recchi’s former peers were enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, the Kamloops, British Columbia native finally eclipsed the milestone when the Bruins topped the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0.

Three and a half minutes into the second period, Recchi corralled a pass from linemate Patrice Bergeron along the right wall in the neutral zone. As two Penguin defenders pinched toward Recchi, the 21-year veteran paused as a streaking Daniel Paille jumped off the bench and flew through center ice. Recchi hit the 2002 first-round selection with a tape-to-tape pass perfectly in stride, and Paille burned a helpless Marc-Andre Fleury shortside for his first goal as a Bruin.

The tally put Recchi in exclusive territory. ‘The Recching Ball’ now sits just one helper behind former teammate Bryan Trottier (901 assists) and needs just 29 more assists to catch Larry Murphy (929), another former teammate, to leap into the top-15 all-time.

Recchi’s also ascending the all-time goals scored list, currently sitting at 25th with 548 career scores –– one behind yet another ex-teammate in Ron Francis. Recchi’s 1448 career points ranks 14th all-time, as well.

“Oh yeah I remember most of them,” Recchi said when asked about his growing list of milestones. “They’re all pretty neat when you start to get up there. It takes a long time to get them now –– to get a 100 [assists] now, it used to be one, one and a half seasons for me, and sometimes one, one and a little bit. It’s nice and I’ll cherish them for a long time.

“There’s a lot of amazing players that I’m up there with. I couldn’t even imagine when I started playing in this league that I’d end up there with some of the same records as these guys. I still don’t put myself in that category, but, you know, I’m up there with them.”

Recchi, 17 seasons removed from a 123-point campaign (53 goals, 70 assists) with the Philadelphia Flyers, has been among the game’s most dangerous players since coming up with the Penguins in 1988. In the waning years of his career, though, the self-identified playmaker has seen his role change, especially since coming to Boston last year at the trade deadline.

“I used to be, obviously, the offensive guy and now, I’m in more of a role that’s [more defensive],” Recchi said. “And you know, I absolutely love it.

“Ever since I’ve been here, it’s a very rewarding [challenge] –– it’s a tough challenge, but when you have centermen like [Bergeron], it sure makes life a lot easier.”

Recchi’s influence on and off the ice has been vital to the growth a young Boston team, according to Bruins coach Claude Julien.

“His approach to the game was really good for our young hockey club and players,” Julien said. “You can never get enough experience in the lineup. Today, you have to keep some young guys because of what they call the salary cap in the new NHL, so you need to have the right mix of veterans.

“I think he’s at a stage in his career where winning and going for a Stanley Cup is more important than anything else, so he’s a great influence for us to have around.”

The role of learned elder is similar to the one Recchi played just a few seasons ago for a young Penguins’ squad.

When Sidney Crosby arrived in Pittsburgh in 2005, Recchi was ‘The Kid’s’ first roommate on the road and helped spur the development of one of hockey's brightest young stars.

In 2006-07, Recchi took another youngster under his wing in then-18-year-old Jordan Staal, going so far as to open the guestroom of his Pittsburgh home to the Thunderbay, Ontario native.

“The greatest thing about [Pittsburgh’s young guys] –– they’re very similar to here –– they’re the greatest kids and it made it enjoyable for me to come to the rink everyday,” Recchi said. “To have Jordan Staal and Sidney and [Evgeni] Malkin included in that group, it’s pretty neat to be around those guys.”

For Crosby, the chance to see Recchi reach the milestone in person brought back recollections of another memorable night.

“It’s funny, actually –– we played together when he got his 500th goal, and that was pretty neat to be a part of,” Crosby said. “So, here I am on the other side, but that’s good for him. He deserves everything that he’s gotten because he’s a great player.”

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

It takes more than a good goalie to shut a team out in the National Hockey League. It takes strong defensive efforts from everyone –– the netminder, the defensemen and the forwards. That’s exactly what the Bruins got in their 3-0 blanking of the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

Tim Thomas saved all 27 shots he faced en route to his second shutout of the season, but he wasn’t called on to make any spectacular saves, and he rarely had to face more than one or two shots in succession. That’s because Boston's (8-7-2) defensemen did a great job of clogging up the middle of the ice, keeping the Penguins (12-6-0) to the outside and clearing out rebounds.

“The one thing that was really hurting us [earlier this season] was the fact that we weren’t scoring goals, and that really put a cloud over the fact that we were still playing well defensively,” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “Now we score a few goals, and all of a sudden our defense becomes something everybody notices and respects. The guys in front blocked a lot of shots, and Timmy made the saves when he had to.”

The forwards also did their part, consistently breaking plays up on the backcheck by taking away the third man into the zone and picking up defensemen who jumped in on the rush.

“I’ve never been on a team where the forwards work this hard,” defenseman Derek Morris said. “I keep giving our forwards credit, but our system runs well when our forwards do a nice job of coming back. We’re just biding time for them. We’re plugging up the middle. We might have to block a shot here or there, but our forwards are doing such a good job of taking that high guy away that we can read off of them.”

The defensemen and forwards combined to block an astounding 22 shots, repeatedly giving up their bodies to take away shooting lanes. The team’s all-around effort in its own zone was highlighted by Pittsburgh’s measly two shots on goal in the first period –– the fewest shots given up by Boston in one period since Jan. 3 of last season.

“I thought our guys did a great job tonight at blocking a lot of shots,” Julien said. “A lot of it was our D’s, and some forwards, but our D’s were doing a good job at fronting those, and we had some big blocks.”

Despite outshooting the Penguins, 10-2, in the opening frame, the teams entered the locker rooms scoreless after one. But it didn’t take the Bruins long to capitalize in the second. Just 1:36 into the period, Matt Hunwick pinched in from his point position and tried to jam a shot by Marc-Andre Fleury (26 saves) from the right doorstep, but was denied.

After Steve Begin’s rebound attempt was also saved, Hunwick picked up the puck at the left side of the net and backhanded it just under the crossbar for his fourth goal of the season. Initially, it was ruled no goal, but when play finally came to a stop over a minute later, the refs reviewed it and saw that the puck clearly crossed the line before bouncing out.

Boston struck again early in the third. After Morris made a great diving play to break up a Pittsburgh 2-on-1, Mark Recchi hit Daniel Paille with a long outlet pass to send Paille in on a breakaway. He promptly picked his spot and beat Fleury with a wrist shot to the blocker side for his first goal in a Bruins uniform. Recchi’s assist was the 900th of his career, making him the 18th player in NHL history to reach that milestone.

Patrice Bergeron tacked on an empty netter with 3.5 seconds to go to cap off the scoring. It was his sixth goal of the season.

The win gave Boston its first back-to-back wins of the season.

Be sure to check in tonight as Scott McLaughlin and Jake Seiner live blog tonight's B's-Pens matchup.

Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Jack Parker

Opening statement

All in all, I thought it was a well played game other than us . . . one of our goals every game is not to beat ourselves, and I thought we beat ourselves tonight pretty good with some of the stupid penalties we took, especially right off the bat early in the game.

We gave them the 5-on-3 goal. The other one was actually a power-play goal. They went 1-for-6, but they actually went 2-for-6 because the second one was just as the power play was getting over. Those were just, all three penalties off the bat were bad penalties. Down 2-0, we fought back, we played pretty well. It was a nice answer on our power play.

I thought we played very, very well in the second period. I thought we were going to win the game because we played so well in the second period. I thought the game was turned around for us, and then I thought Maine played extremely well in the third period. In the second period, we attempted 23 shots. We only attempted 16 in the third, and that was with three power plays for us, so they kill penalties very well.

I thought a few of our guys played well. Connolly has been snake-bitten all year. He finally got a goal on a power play. Trivino made a great play for our other power-play goal to Chiasson, and Trivino played very well. I thought Colby Cohen played well, and I thought our goalie played very well. I thought their goalie played great.

I’ll tell you, we’ve made every goalie we’ve played look like Jacques Plante. It’s unbelievable. We made the Northeastern goalie look like he was invincible, and we made this kid look like he was invincible because we were rushing shots. We’re having trouble scoring goals and we’re rushing shots. I think he played well, but I also think we had some opportunities.

I liked our team effort in a lot of ways, but I thought we were stupid with our penalties, and that’s what aggravated me. And I thought we ran out of a little steam in the third period.

On the play of Gustav Nyquist

Nyquist is a very good player. How many points did he have tonight? Could've had another one, too. He made a great play on that shorthanded situation. Yeah, he’s a very good player, one of the better players in the league. To tell you the truth, I didn’t notice him, though, and I usually notice him all over the place. But he’s a real good player.

On the no goal

I kind of knew it was going to be called off because I just went over and asked Alex, 'Did you bump him when you backed into the goalie? Did you touch him?' And he said, 'Yeah, I think my back did.' And I said, 'Well, if he’s in the crease, it’s no goal,' and I guess they looked at it and said he was in the crease. I didn’t see a replay, but I know that must have been what they did.

On the misplayed 2-on-1 that led to Maine's third goal

They scored on a real bad read. We had everything covered, and we had caught up. Nyquist goes down the wall and squeezes by one of our defensemen, but he’s off the angle. Where he’s got the puck, he couldn’t put that puck by my goaltender once in 100 times, and my defenseman came over to play him and left the other guy wide open –– the opposite way you’re supposed to play a 2-on-1, and they get a wide-open look.

My goalie doesn’t have a chance on that play. Real bad read there, and that was a huge goal because I thought we were playing real well.

On Kieran Millan’s play

I just said, 'I’m tired of us losing 3-2 or getting shut out or not producing any offense for our goaltender.' He’s been playing great, and he played great again tonight.

On the two early penalties

Well, those two penalties put us down by two goals. It’s hard to come back on the road being down two goals seven minutes into the game.

On not playing Ryan Santana

I wanted to get Megan back in the lineup. Gaudet played pretty well the last couple games. I wanted to get him one more game. I told Ryan that he’d be back in the lineup. It was not a matter of him not playing well. I thought everyone played real well the other night, but I had to take somebody out because I wanted Megan to go back in. I thought Megan played real well tonight.

On the Megan line

They got the nice goal. They played well. Megan won a lot of faceoffs tonight, which is important to us. I thought he won more than that, but he was 9-7. I think he won a lot in the offensive zone there. It just seemed like, especially on the power-play situation, we did a good job with that.

On Rollheiser

This week, he’s going full tilt all week long. We'll see how it goes.

On the power play showing improvement

Yeah, but it wasn’t good in the end. It wasn’t good in the end the other night either. The last couple games, the power play had to win the game on both nights, we fumble-bumbled the puck, we get jumpy with it. I think it's much, much better, but it’s got to get better in big time too.

On grade-A chances

We played a little bit harder, and I thought the second period was our best period for sure.

On scoring

I think we’re pressing the pucks on the net and it’s hurting us. Although we had some real good rebound chances tonight, we’re not getting enough of those.

Chris Connolly

On the team's offensive struggles

You know, we played hard and coach made an emphasis on that just as we did on Friday against Northeastern. I mean, the goals are going to come. The chances are there, the shots are there, just tonight we took a few stupid penalties. I mean, they got at least two power-play goals. I’m not sure if their last one was. Their last one might have been, too. Ultimately, that’s what killed us. I mean, we stay out of the box on those stupid penalties and we’re right in there.

On the save Darling made on him on a rebound chance

He’s a big kid. He’s a great goalie. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened to me against him. I played against him in juniors, and last year I had flashbacks of those kind of saves against me, so he’s a really good goaltender.

He made a great recovery after getting over there and was in good position for the rebound. I give all the credit to him. He had a great night.

On his goal and the power play in general

Our emphasis was to get it in the zone. To be able to get it set up, you have to go work hard and get the puck. Once we had it, we want to just work it around with as many clean passes as possible. Get that penalty kill moving around so we can get a few chances here and there, and we were fortunate enough Colby made a nice pass to find a hole there and catch the goalie off guard.

On the offense's chances

We get a lot of shots, and it may look good. It's just maybe we’re outplaying teams and we’re not scoring goals. But at the same time, the good chances we’ve had –– backdoor, open nets, pucks laying in creases, things like that –– you know those are chances we need to bear down on. Shooting back into the goaltender and things like that on good opportunities, those are ones we’re going to need later down the line, so we have to start bearing down on those now and getting some of those to go.

I think [goals will] start coming. It’s still fairly early in the season, but it comes down to focusing, bearing down, when you get a good opportunity to just make sure that it goes in. Don’t take the opportunity for granted, because when you go against good college goaltenders like that, they don’t give up on chances and its been pretty obvious as of late.

On the improved power play

Focus and hard work. I mean, we got off to a really slow start with it this year and it was pretty frustrating because BU’s been known to have a pretty skillfull power play, and Coach demands hard work before anything else, before skill on the power play, and so we really took that to heart in practice. Just getting the pucks, beating guys, winning your 1-on-1 battles and then getting it set up and working it around, because you can't get that going until you get good control of the puck so that’s been the biggest focus as of late.

On Bonino's absence

We’ve definitely missed him. He’s a 50-plus point scorer, and around 30 the year before, so that’s a lot of points we’re missing. We’re definitely going to be happy to get him back, but in the meantime, we’ve had plenty of chances. Without him, I think once those guys start contributing and we get some of the chances starting to go in addition to getting Bonino back, I think it will be a big plus for us.

Kieran Millan

On the first goal of the game

Yeah, they passed it through the slot, and it ended up going to a guy. He took a nice shot. I was kind of screwed on the play, but it was a nice shot.

On the wraparound goal

I made the original save and went to cover the puck, and one of our own players kind of shot it away from me. And it went right on his stick, and he was able to wrap it real quick before I got over there.

On the 2-on-1 goal

I originally thought that, when I looked up, it seemed like the guy out front was covered and I just had to take the shot 1-on-1 with [Nyquist] coming on the right-side wall. He kind of faked the shot, and I kind of froze a little bit. So, I wasn’t expecting a shot, and he passed across the crease to the guy who was open.

On stupid penalties

We’re having trouble scoring and taking penalties at the start of the game. [Maine] scoring on [their powerplays] sure isn’t going to help our team out because we’re having trouble scoring, and we know we’re not going to be able to score as many as last year, so being down two right off the gun isn’t great. But I thought we did a pretty good job of battling back and we tried.

On whether or not the lack of offense affects him

Not really. My job is just to try to keep the puck out of the net. It’s been a little tougher this year, but I think things will turn around. I thought we did a pretty good job against Northeastern. We really limited them to only having a few good scoring chances. Today, I think Maine did a pretty good job of getting to open areas and finding spots to get shots, but we’re going to get better. Things happen. You can’t win every game. It’s early in the season and hopefully things turn around.

A couple Monday morning (afternoon?) links from the FreeP. Apologies for the lateness, but we were experiencing some technical difficulties (the media version of the ever-so-vague "upper body injury").

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

After an abysmal showing in last weekend’s split against the No. 8 University of Massachusetts-Lowell, the No. 5/7 Boston University men’s hockey team played its best defensive game of the season in Friday night’s 1-0 loss at Northeastern University.

Not only did the Terriers allow the fewest goals they’ve given up all season, but they also did a much better job of keeping the opponent to the outside, disrupting cycles and clearing out rebounds.

“BU did a terrific job,” Northeastern coach Greg Cronin said. “I thought they did a great job just neutralizing us on the cycle. They really stapled us on the boards. They surrounded the puck on all the battles. They constantly had those red jerseys all over the puck. We just had no mobility.”

Last weekend, the Terriers surrendered an astounding 32 shot attempts from the slot or closer in two games. BU coach Jack Parker said his team was “really inept at covering out front.” Senior defenseman and alternate captain Eric Gryba said the Terriers “weren’t tough enough to play against.”

But Friday night was an entirely different story. The Huskies took just six shots from within 10 feet of the BU cage. Rebound chances were few and far between. Extended offensive zone possessions were virtually nonexistent.

“We were focused,” Parker said. “We played harder. It’s really simple. We weren’t standing around watching . . . Saturday night’s game was a real downer for me as far as how good an effort and how good a focus we had. We looked like we weren’t ready to play. Tonight, we looked like we were ready.”

Besides being more focused and playing harder, changes in the defensive pairings worked about as well as they possibly could have. Reuniting juniors Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk on the top pairing after they were separated last weekend seemed to ignite the spark that had been lit between the duo over the past two years, but had seemingly flamed out earlier this season.

“I thought Shattenkirk played great tonight,” Parker said. “I thought this was his best game of the year. I thought Colby Cohen played great tonight. I thought it was his best game.”

Freshman Ben Rosen, who played with Gryba as the fill-in for injured sophomore David Warsofsky, also stepped up in his first collegiate regular-season game. After playing well in BU’s two exhibition games, the Syosset, N.Y. native didn’t crack the lineup in any of BU’s first five games due to a combination of both of the other freshman d-men (Sean Escobedo and Max Nicastro) performing well and Rosen not impressing the coaches enough in practice.

“I thought he played well,” Parker said of the rookie. “He was good with the puck. He was good defensively.”

One thing’s for sure –– if the Terriers continue to hold opponents to 20 shots and one goal a game, Parker will be a happy coach. When asked what his message to the team would be heading up to the University of Maine on Sunday, Parker responded, “Play like this. Give me another game like this.”

By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff

The No. 5/7 Boston University men’s hockey team was dominant in nearly every fashion Friday night against Northeastern University.

The Terriers outshot the Huskies, 43-20, and controlled the pace of play for nearly the entire game. BU ripped 19 shots on net in over 15 minutes of power-play time, and blocked more than a third of Northeastern’s shot attempts.

In the end, about the only thing the Terriers did not have was NU freshman Chris Rawlings in net. The rookie made all the difference as Northeastern blanked BU, 1-0, at Matthews Arena. It was the first time BU was shutout on the road since March 15, 2004.

Rawlings turned away 43 BU (2-4-0, 1-3-0 Hockey East) shots, including 19 with NU (3-3-0, 1-2-0), on the penalty kill.

“He’s starting to get into a rhythm psychologically,” NU coach Greg Cronin said of Rawlings. “This position is such a mental position.

“There was a boatload of [shots] on the power play –– point blank shots, and hey, he was terrific.”

Rather than fold under the pressure of facing a “boatload” of shots, Rawlings said the constant barrage of pucks helped him maintain focus.

“I can’t stand when I don’t get a lot of shots,” Rawlings said. “I need a lot of shots so I can stay in the game.”

The teams played scoreless into the third period until the Huskies capitalized on a penalty by BU freshman Alex Chiasson 11:37 into the final frame. Exactly one minute into the power play, NU junior Mike Hewkin fired a shot from the center-point position. Junior Wade McLeod screened the shot, and the puck bounced off the pads of BU sophomore netminder Kieran Millan.

The puck slid to the top-right corner of the crease, where McLeod located and pushed the puck past Millan and over the goal line. It was McLeod’s third tally of the young season, and put Northeastern up, 1-0.

Just over three minutes later, Hewkin gave an already buzzing Terrier squad a golden opportunity to knot the game and potentially take the lead. The junior leveled Chiasson from behind into the NU half wall, and was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct with 4:09 left in regulation.

The Terriers, who had dictated the pace of play since the second period, unleashed a flurry of scoring chances on the final man advantage.

Twice, junior Colby Cohen flicked passes from the point to sophomore Chris Connolly, who redirected the puck on net. Both times, Rawlings turned the sophomore away and left BU with no rebound opportunities.

Connolly, who led all players with eight shots on goal, sparked BU’s best scoring chance of the night. The sophomore flew around the back of the cage tried wrapping the puck around on Rawlings. Connolly beat Rawlings five-hole, but Rawlings got enough of the puck with the inside of one of his legs to slow it significantly. The puck trickled through the crease parallel to the goal line, inducing a massive scurry in front of the NU cage and frenzied an already raucous Matthews Arena.

The puck crept through the crease for three or four seconds before a Husky player located it with his stick and flipped it out of the zone.

In the game’s waning seconds, the Terriers wound up for two final shots, but NU defenders blocked both attempts. The horn sounded to end the game and capped off a 0-for-7 showing for the Terriers on the power play.

Despite the story on the stat sheet, the BU power play had one of its best performances of the season.

Coming into Friday, the Terriers were scoring on just 17.2 percent of their extra-man chances, and had been plagued by often horrendous puck possession and composure in the attacking zone.

Friday night, the Terriers in-zone passing game took a major step forward. Parker said junior Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen played their best games of the season, and the pair was in rare form at the points of BU’s power play. Aided by slick wing-to-wing cross-slot passing from Connolly and sophomore Vinny Saponari, the Terriers averaged almost three shots per power-play chance.

“We had a lot of good plays,” Parker said. “We were poised with the puck. We got the puck in the zone. We got control of the puck in the zone.”

The power play improvements were a reflection of a more focused and intense effort, according to Parker. The same concentration and energy also helped BU prevail in a number of 1-on-1 loose-puck chances and win 39-of-69 faceoffs –– a far cry from last Saturday’s 19-for-60 showing against the No. 8 University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

“I thought we came to play tonight,” Parker said. “It was like night and day from the last game. We came with an effort. We came with a lot of brains. We came with a lot of focus. We came with a lot of intensity. All the things we measure our team by, we would say we won this game tonight by the things we measure.

“I’d be very, very happy to continue playing the way we are.”

Kibbles and Bits

Northeastern junior Tyler McNeely suffered an elbow injury in the first period and was not on the ice or the bench for the second and third periods. Cronin declined to comment further on the extent of the injury after the game. . . . Northeastern hit two posts Friday, including one off the crossbar when an isolated McNeely beat Millan gloveside midway through the first period. . . . The Terriers registered at least two shots on every power-play chance they had Friday. . . . Sophomore David Warsofsky, who missed Friday’s game with an injury to the adductor muscle in his hip, will not decide until Sunday if he’ll play when BU travels to the University of Maine.

We've got four links for you this morning:

Jake Seiner previews the Terriers' game at Northeastern tonight.

Teddy Mazurek previews the women's game against UNH tonight.

Josh Cain recaps the Bruins' 2-1 shootout loss to Montreal last night.

Sam Dykstra discusses the Bruins' recent offensive struggles.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

1) No. 8 University of Massachusetts-Lowell

The River Hawks (4-2-0, 2-1-0 Hockey East) proved that their preseason hype was deserved last weekend against BU. The UML offense outworked the Terrier defense on both nights, scoring all seven of its goals from within 10 feet of the BU cage en route to a weekend split. After giving up three fast-break goals in Friday’s overtime loss, the River Hawks bore down on defense Saturday night to pick up their first win against the Terriers in seven tries. UML’s only other loss this season was to another top-10 team –– the No. 10 University of Nebraska-Omaha.

2) No. 5/7 Boston University

After last weekend’s split against UML, you could very easily make the argument that the Terriers (2-3-0, 1-2-0) should be No. 1, or at least 1A. The power play started coming together, sophomore goalie Kieran Millan made several outstanding saves and the offense doubled its season scoring output on Friday night with five goals. But the defense struggled mightily, consistently allowing the River Hawks second- and third-chance opportunities as BU failed to clear the zone. Still, a 2-1-0 record in its last three games –– all against top-10 teams –– is an encouraging sign for BU.

3) No. 19 University of Massachusetts-Amherst

The Minutemen (4-1-0, 3-1-0) haven’t exactly faced the toughest schedule so far, but they do have the best overall record in the conference, and they do sit atop the current standings with six points. A 3-2 home win over BU back on Oct. 16 is obviously impressive, but wins over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Maine and a weekend split with Providence aren’t quite enough to vault UMass all the way to the top yet. Junior James Marcou leads the conference’s best offense thus far (3.80 goals per game) with a nation-best 2.20 points per game.

4) No. 16 Boston College

The Eagles (2-2-0, 1-2-0) are one of the hardest teams to judge for two reasons –– they’ve played the fewest games in the conference, and they’ve been inconsistent. After a blowout loss at Vermont to start the season, BC picked up an impressive road win over the No. 9 University of Notre Dame, but then followed that up with a split against Merrimack last weekend. The Eagles still have boatloads of talent, though, and the point-per-game paces of senior Ben Smith and junior Joe Whitney suggest a turnaround after their disappointing seasons last year.

5) No. 15 University of Vermont

Talk about a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. The Catamounts (2-3-0, 1-2-0) started the season 2-1 with wins over BC and the No. 2/3 University of Denver, but have since lost two straight to Merrimack and Maine by a combined score of 9-3. Before the season, UVM’s biggest question was up front, while the defense seemed like a sure thing. So far, the offense has been fine (3.40 goals per game), but the defense has been porous (3.80 goals-against per game). Six of UVM’s next eight opponents are ranked, so the real Cats should emerge soon enough.

6) Providence College

The Friars (5-2-0, 1-1-0) already have two fewer wins than they had all of last season. Wins at Notre Dame and at UMass are definitely impressive, but they also lost to both of those teams, earning two weekend splits. Providence’s other three wins have come against the College of the Holy Cross and Bowling Green State University (2x) –– two teams that are a combined 2-8-2 this season. The most promising sign for the Friars so far has to be the improved play of sophomore goalie Alex Beaudry, who ranks ninth in the country with a .939 save percentage.

7) Merrimack College

Don’t expect the Warriors (5-3-0, 2-1-0) to be the laughingstock, non-playoff team they’ve been for the last five years. This year’s squad already has impressive victories over Vermont and BC, outscoring the pair 10-5 in those wins. Merrimack also battled the No. 2/3 University of North Dakota down to the wire in a hard-fought 3-2 road loss. The Warriors currently rank second in the conference in scoring offense (3.75 goals per game). Junior Chris Barton is tied for first in the nation with seven goals, while freshman Stephane Da Costa is right behind him with six.

8) University of New Hampshire

Yes, the Wildcats (2-4-1, 2-0-0) are undefeated in conference play, but their atrocious 0-4-1 out-of-conference record is hard to ignore. A tie and loss against No. 1 Miami University is nothing to be embarrassed about, but losing 3-1 to Rensselaer and being outscored 10-2 in a weekend sweep at the hands of the University of Wisconsin certainly are. Someone needs to remind junior Mike Sislo (2 points) that he’s supposed to be one of the league’s top scorers. Oh, and senior goalie Brian Foster’s 3.99 goals-against average and .875 save percentage aren’t helping, either.

9) Northeastern University

The Huskies (2-3-0, 0-2-0) rank last in the conference in scoring (2.40 goals per game) and last in the conference on the penalty kill (69.2 percent). Those are the two biggest reasons they’ve been more than doubled up by UNH and UML in their last two games. Northeastern does have an impressive road win over No. 11/12 Colorado College, but that came as part of a weekend split. The Huskies only other win this year came against non-power Bentley University. NU faces its biggest test so far this weekend when it hosts BU on Friday and heads to BC on Saturday.

10) University of Maine

The Black Bears’ (2-5-0, 1-2-0) offense has actually been pretty good –– sophomore Gustav Nyquist is tied for fourth in the nation with 11 points and freshman Adam Shemansky is tied for seventh with five goals –– but their defense has been horrendous. Maine ranks last in the conference with a putrid 4.14 team goals-against average. The Black Bears’ two wins have come over two pretty good teams –– Vermont and No. 17 Michigan State University –– but they’ve given up 25 goals in their five losses, including 10 in a weekend sweep at the hands of lowly Union College.