Entering Lawler Arena on the road riding a two-game losing streak, the No. 3 Boston University Terriers took on the No. 4 Merrimack Warriors in a Hockey East matchup with serious playoff implications.<\/p>\n
BU’s top-ranked offense in Hockey East at 3.54 goals per game battled against the top-ranked defense of Merrimack, who has allowed a Hockey East conference-low of 2.00 goals per game.<\/p>\n
Tonight, the Terriers outplayed the Warriors at both ends of the ice for a 4-1 victory to exceed Boston College and grab a firm hold of first place.<\/p>\n
“I thought we were very thorough in all three zones, we were very alert, and when you get four goals on [Merrimack goalie Joe] Cannata, you’ve had a really good night,” said BU coach Jack Parker.<\/p>\n
The Terriers improve to 16-8-1 overall (13-6-1 Hockey East), while the Warriors fall to 14-6-5 and 10-5-3 in Hockey East and down to fifth place in the league standings.<\/p>\n
BU’s high-powered offense struck early for a 1-0 lead at 1:29 of the first period with 100-plus point-scorer Chris Connolly’s quick release beating Cannata low to the glove side.<\/p>\n
The Terriers outplayed the Warriors in the first period, giving Merrimack problems getting out of their own zone, causing turnovers, and owning the better half of puck possession.<\/p>\n
Whenever Merrimack was able to generate an attack, BU won most of the one-on-one battles along the boards and snuffed out multiple opportunities.<\/p>\n
“We got rattled,” said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy. “I think a team with a long tradition of winning big hockey games came in here ready to win and I think you saw a home team that was unsure.”<\/p>\n
Merrimack’s best chance came when Connor Toomey somehow sped past the entire BU defense, but goaltender Kieran Millan closed the pads to make the save. <\/p>\n
The Terriers came out on the ice in the second period flat-footed and undisciplined, giving Merrimack a couple of power plays early. BU allowed very little time and space for the Warriors’ power play to make any headway and easily killed the penalties.<\/p>\n
BU finally made the Warriors pay for their mistakes on the scoreboard, scoring two goals in 54 seconds to make the hill all the more steep for the Warriors to climb.<\/p>\n
The first came at 12:32 when top-scoring Hockey East defenseman Adam Clendening quickly found Sahir Gill at the doorstep, who deflected the puck past a scrambling Cannata for a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Clendening’s skill struck again on a perfectly-executed three-on-two with the BU defenseman finding Connolly along the blue line and finishing the play getting the puck to Alex Chiasson, who found the twine to give the Terriers a 3-0 lead at 13:26.<\/p>\n
“I thought BU had some big time efforts from some big time players and their best players were the best players on the ice from the get go,” said Dennehy.<\/p>\n
Despite two more power-play chances for the Warriors, the BU defense made life very easy for Millan, who mostly only had to stop long-range routine shots and clear the rebounds.<\/p>\n
Despite getting into desperation mode in the third period, the Warriors still could not beat the Terriers in the physicality department.<\/p>\n
“Merrimack is a very difficult team to outwork and I thought we at least matched their work ethic, if not a little better,” said Parker.<\/p>\n
The Warriors did get off a few quality chances, but Millan was able to make the initial save with no rebound.<\/p>\n
At 14:29 of the third period, Matt Nieto, who recorded three assists, passed the puck to Connolly, who skated unopposed across the slot to beat Cannata to the far post for a 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Millan’s shutout bid was spoiled at 18:18 of the third period when Toomey got into the BU zone uncontested and found Mike Collins, who beat Millan to make the score 4-1 before the final buzzer sounded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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