After dropping a 5-4 road contest in Storrs on Thursday, Bruins prospect Jonathan Morello and Boston University rebounded with authority in the Saturday night rematch, thumping UConn 6-3 in their home opener to claim four of six points from their home-and-home series.
“I liked the response from our group after a tough loss on Thursday,” said Terriers head coach Jay Pandolfo. While the Huskies set the pace at Toscano Forum, taking the lead three times before taking the extra point in overtime, they had no such opportunity at Agganis Arena. BU struck twice in the first ten minutes and had several other chances, including a missed two-on-one chance from Morello, to extend their lead before the intermission.
The second period was much of the same. Tynan Larence scored BU’s second power-play goal of the series (and second of the season), and Conrad Fondrk followed soon after to stretch the lead to 4-0. UConn got on the board late in the frame when Jeremy Loranger’s shot deflected and knuckled between BU goaltender Mikhail Yegorov’s legs.
The game looked all but settled early in the third period when BU captain Jack Harvey beat Louhivaara with a highlight-reel effort, weaving through UConn defenseman Anthony Allain-Samake and beating the goaltender on his backhand to add the Terriers’ fifth goal of the night. But the Huskies wouldn’t go away and, through special teams and Kaden Shanan, cut the deficit to 5-3 with seven minutes left.
Shahan first struck with a shot from above the faceoff circle that beat Yegorov on the blocker side, then added his second on a power-play rebound shortly after the Huskies killed off 47 seconds of a BU two-man advantage. The Terriers squandered a chance to put the game to rest when Kamil Bednarek received a game misconduct for spearing, nullifying their remaining power-play time and giving UConn four minutes to claw back, and Shahan converted.
Morello nearly put the game out of reach during the Connecticut power play, stripping the puck from defenseman Trey Scott in his own end and getting multiple scoring chances, but was unable to convert. “Credit to our penalty kill for doing a heck of a job there at the end,” said Pandolfo.
BU held the fort for the rest of regulation, preventing an inverse of Thursday night, and Brandon Svoboda added an empty-net goal from long range in the final minute to secure the 6-3 win. The Terriers’ 10 goals in this series doubled their season output, as they had scored nine total combined in their first four official games against Alaska and Vermont. “They were opportunistic,” said UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh. “When they had their chances, they buried them.”
The Terriers will look to carry their momentum into next weekend, when they host the Maine Black Bears for two games at Agganis Arena.
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