After playing six periods and two overtimes this weekend, piling up 145 shots in the process, neither No. 11 Boston University nor No. 1 Providence College could come away with a win in a Hockey East home-and-home series.
One day after a 1-1 tie that was as emotionally intense a game as you’ll ever see in November, the Terriers and Friars couldn’t quite match that energy for the first two periods, but a wild third period featured four goals and led to a 3-3 deadlock in front of 5,508 at Agganis Arena.
Through two periods, BU was down 2-0 and feeling fit to be tied after a couple of five-on-three power plays for Providence. The Terriers redoubled their resolve and were rewarded with two third-period goals from freshman phenom Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, as well as another from senior Ahti Oksanen, to take a 3-2 lead, but Friars defenseman Jake Walman scored his second power-play goal of the game with 6:11 left in the third, and both teams went home for a point for the second day in a row.
“Another great college hockey game,” BU coach David Quinn said. “A little different from our perspective: I thought they came out and continued what they did last night while our intensity fell a little bit. … It took us a little while to pick up from where we left off last night, and obviously penalties certainly didn’t help us again.
“They got the five-on-three goal; they went up 2-0, and then I thought we started regrouping and doing the things we need to do if we’re going to have success.”
Meanwhile, Providence coach Nate Leaman saw his team extend its program record unbeaten streak to 13 games (10-0-3 going back to last season) but wasn’t happy to see third-period leads slip away two games in a row.
“I’m a little disappointed we didn’t finish both games,” Leaman said. “But you’re still growing and learning at this time of the year, and it’s not that I felt like we didn’t play well enough to extend leads. We just didn’t finish.
“It’s 2-0; we get a three-on-one; we get a breakaway, and their goalie made some great stops. But they have a good team over there, and our goalie made some great stops, too.”
Providence was simply the better team in the first period, outshooting BU 15-8 and capitalizing on a Brian Pinho goal at 17:13. Off a faceoff, Nick Saracino passed the puck from the left-wing boards to Pinho for a clear look in the slot, and he buried it.
The second period was an exercise in frustration for the Terriers, as the officials called several penalties, resulting in two five-on-three advantages. BU had killed a full two minutes of five-on-three last night, but Providence capitalized on the first one this afternoon when Walman’s one-time slap shot from the right point found the net to make it 2-0.
The Terriers finally got some momentum going late in the period when they buzzed the net repeatedly for the better part of a minute during a delayed penalty call. Oksanen hit a post for what must have been the 11th time this season, but the crowd got into the game. That boost seemed to carry over into the third period, as BU had four great scoring chances in the first five minutes
Regardless, it looked like it might be game, set, and match at 6:35 of the period when a Friars defenseman looped a long, high pass to Kevin Rooney in the neutral zone to set up a breakaway. However, LaCouvee stopped the Friars captain with the save of the night, and BU scored less than a minute later.
After a penalty call that seemed to exasperate Leaman as much as a few of the second-period calls riled Quinn, BU got a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 7:12. Matt Grzelcyk stick-handled at the point, looking for a lane, finally finding Oksanen in his usual office — the right-wing circle — for the one-timer and a goal.
Then at 9:40, Forsbacka Karlsson threw the puck toward the net from the high side of the right-wing circle, and the puck went through traffic and eluded Friars goalie Nick Ellis. Less than three minutes after that, BU took its first and only lead on another power-play goal — this one coming from a Forsbacka Karlsson wrister in the slot after Brandon Fortunato set him up.
Just when the BU faithful thought they might finally take down the nation’s top-ranked team, though, the Friars responded with another power-play goal from the point from Jake Walman. Remarkably for any player, let alone a defenseman, Walman now has nine goals in nine games played this season. This is even more startling when you bear in mind that he had exactly one career goal in 41 games coming into this year.
“He’s worked a lot on his shot,” Leaman said. “Last year his shot was very average. And it’s not only accuracy; it’s how quickly you get it off.”
That ended the scoring, and both coaches ended up feeling mildly disappointed with the results, but very pleased about what the weekend had to say about the bigger picture.
“As a team, we got better this weekend, and that’s what it’s all about right now,” Leaman said.
“I think we found out an awful lot about ourselves this weekend,” Quinn said. “I learned we can compete with the best of them. That’s a big, strong, well-balanced team. We showed a lot of resiliency; we showed mental toughness and great team camaraderie.
“There’s a checklist of things you’re going to need if you’re going to win championships, starting with talent. And if you have enough talent, there’s about seven or eight other things you’re going to need if you’re going to have success. And we keep checking the boxes as we move on, which is a good sign.”
