For Boston University, beating Northeastern 4-1 Saturday night at a sold out Matthews Arena to complete a weekend sweep of the Huskies was satisfying.
What may resonate even longer with the Terriers though is the performance of Connor LaCouvee.
With questions looming about the goaltending situation of the Terriers (4-3-0, 2-2-0), coach David Quinn had some reason to be optimistic Saturday night, receiving 33 saves on 34 shots from his sophomore goaltender, keeping Northeastern off the board for 59 minutes en route to the win.
The loss drops the Huskies to 1-7-1 (0-2-1 in Hockey East) on the season, one loss short of the team’s historically bad 1-8-1 start just one season ago.
“Just really proud of our guys,” said Quinn. “It was a great weekend and any time you can sweep somebody in our league it’s a heck of an accomplishment. That’s a good team we just played.
“They play hard, they really make you defend, but I thought we came to play tonight. Obviously our first period was the best period we’ve had this year without question.”
In that first period, the Terriers came out firing, jumping all over the anxious Huskies, outshooting them by an 18-2 margin in the period, and held the Huskies shotless for the first 16 minutes, much of which can be attributed to Northeastern taking two penalties in the first five minutes of the contest.
Boston University was able to get just one goal though in the period despite the shot differential, courtesy of senior captain Matt Grzelcyk on a power play, his second goal in as many games.
Grzelcyk, who was playing in his second game of the season after returning from injury Friday night, raced by a Northeastern defender and fired a shot over the right shoulder of Huskies freshman goaltender Ryan Ruck (30 saves on the night) to give the Terriers the early lead.
“[Grzelcyk] is obviously a guy who’s an elite [player] at this level,” said Quinn. “Any time you get a guy back like that, your line-up instantaneously gets better, everybody gets better. You have a little bit more swagger, you play with more confidence, and he did a good job.
“He obviously gave us a jolt of enthusiasm, and when you add arguably the best defenseman in the country to your line-up it’s going to make an impact and you saw the impact he made all weekend.”
For the Huskies, who have struggled to get early leads, falling behind once again put them in a vulnerable position throughout the rest of the game.
“Disappointed with the way we started the first period,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan. “We got ourselves down two penalties in a row, which we deserved, and we’re killing off penalties for the first six minutes, and allowed obviously BU to gain a lot of momentum.
“They’ve got a very good power play and they’ve got a lot of skill up there and it took us a while to get some momentum … we just couldn’t get anything geared and sustained and obviously they outshot us badly in that first period.”
Although the Huskies came barreling back in the second, outshooting Boston University 13-7 and exciting the “Dog House” crowd that was fired up for homecoming weekend, it was the 2014-2015 national runner-ups who extended the lead to two.
Picking up a puck in his own defensive zone, defenseman Doyle Somerby took the puck on his own, racing down ice and eventually beating Ruck under his arm.
“That came off of great defense,” said Quinn. “Him and Johnny McLeod did a great job down in the corner down there and Mike Moran as well. Our defense was really good in that sequence and it allowed us to get a two-on-one and he buries it.”
The Terriers continued to play a poised game in the third, only taking three penalties total on the evening in contrast to the eight they took Friday night, a game they still won 5-4.
Northeastern once again came out with a vengeance in the third period, this time outshooting Boston University 19-9, but both teams were held off the scoreboard until the final two minutes of the game, where the Terriers scored two-empty net goals split in between an Adam Gaudette short-handed tally that brought Northeastern within two.
“Third period I thought we played well again,” said Madigan. “We had a lot of quality opportunities and we just couldn’t score and at that point we’re pulling the goaltender and trying to create opportunities.
“We had goaltending today but we couldn’t score; yesterday we didn’t defend well in front of our net but we could score. We need all components to our game working for us to win a hockey game.”
