BOSTON — No. 11 Boston University did it the hard way Friday night.
If a team gives up four goals on just nine shots in the second period, gets outshot 19-6 in the third period, and has to kill eight power plays while only getting three man-advantages in their favor, it sure does sound like the formula for a win.
Improbably enough, tonight it worked out.
BU captain Matt Grzelcyk returned from offseason knee surgery and scored BU’s first goal and set up the game-winner by Ahti Oksanen to key an emotionally-charged, come-from-behind 5-4 win over Northeastern in front of 5,363 at Agganis Arena.
Oksanen added two assists for a three-point night, while Dylan Sikura matched the Finnish forward with a goal and two assists of his own for the Huskies. BU sophomore goalie Connor LaCouvee battled back from a rough second period to stop all 19 third-period shots, including several in a few wild scrambles in the last two minutes with both an extra attacker and a power play for Northeastern.
“I’m really proud of our team,” BU coach David Quinn said. “That wasn’t an easy game. I thought that we were really playing well — got up 2-0, and I didn’t like the way we reacted when we gave up a goal to make it 2-1.
“I thought our youth really showed. We really lost focus, gave up two goals off of neutral-zone faceoffs — people not paying attention and taking on their responsibilities. Penalties were a problem, but the way we battled and obviously, the way our goalie stood tall in the last two minutes enabled us to win two hard points.”
For Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, it was yet another hard-fought loss. Northeastern has been outshot only twice this season yet now has a 1-6-1 record, including an 0-2-1 record in Hockey East.
“Obviously, not the outcome we’re looking for,” Madigan said. “We’ve been in a stretch of these games — one-goal games where we’ve had plenty of opportunities, not being able to cash in at the right time and defensively having some lapses. That hurts, obviously. We have to develop a little more composure and poise on our game; that was the difference at times.”
Grzelcyk was perhaps a little too excited to be playing his first game of the season, getting sent off to the penalty box just 11 seconds after the opening faceoff. But he also scored the first goal of the night on a shot reminiscent of his overtime game-winner against the Huskies in last year’s Beanpot championship. Just as he did on that, Grzelcyk took a feed from the right point to the left point before firing a pinpoint wrist shot into the net.
The Terriers went up 2-0 when Oksanen and Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson set up Brandon Fortunato down low for a goal at 5:56, only to have Northeastern make it 2-1 less than two minutes later on a Matt Benning shot that was redirected in by freshman Adam Gaudette.
That set the stage for a scoring frenzy, as the teams combined for four goals in just 75 seconds. Northeastern tied it up late in a power play, only to have BU freshman Ryan Cloonan steal the puck from Trevor Owens at the point to a race off for a breakaway and a goal on a low backhander on the glove side.
Those two goals were 34 seconds apart.
Twelve seconds after that, Northeastern tied it up when Grzelcyk knocked a rebound into his own net. Twenty-nine seconds later, the Huskies went ahead for the first and only time of the night off a booming slapshot by Eric Williams from the right-wing circle.
Quinn stuck with LaCouvee regardless, and it paid off.
After surviving a five-on-three penalty kill early in the third period, defenseman Brandon Hickey crashed the net and scored in his third consecutive game off a feed from Danny O’Regan.
Less than three minutes later, BU made it 5-4. Grzelcky looked ready to shoot again from the left point but instead held up and found Oksanen in the right-wing circle. “There was a lane that he found, and he made an unreal stick-to-stick pass,” Oksanen said. “I just had a wide open empty net after that. Unreal play by Grizz.”
It was far from over, as Terriers kept wearing a steady trail to the penalty box and the Huskies piled up all kinds of scoring opportunities in the waning minutes. At one point, John Stevens believed he had a goal, but a video review confirmed the call of no goal on the ice. BU bent pretty far, but never broke in the last few difficult minutes.
“That was a bit of a gong show there,” LaCouvee said. “I was just trying to stay in front of the puck and trying to keep it out. Doyle [Somerby] probably made three or four blocks in the last couple of minutes; it was unreal.”
