Boston University has been acting out a similar script over the last three games, and it repeatedly plays out as a thriller.
In their previous two games, the No. 10 Terriers came away with a point despite failing to score in the first two periods.
Tonight they did one better, rallying from a 2-0 deficit with three goals in the last 10 minutes for a stirring 3-2 win over No. 12 Michigan in front of 4,494 at Agganis Arena. After being significantly outplayed for two periods and held scoreless for the first 50:28, BU scored twice in 12 seconds.
For added drama, BU goalie Connor LaCouvee stopped a Tyler Motte shot just 38 seconds after BU tied it up. That set the stage for Doyle Somerby’s game-winner with just under three minutes to go.
“Just really proud of our guys,” BU coach David Quinn said. “It’s not an easy thing to do when you don’t play well for two periods — to be able to pull it together and give yourself a chance in the third — and that’s what I thought we did.”
“I thought we got off to a good start, and it was a pretty even second,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “Then BU took over the game in the third period. That first goal was a power-play goal, and it gave them the momentum they needed … and then they scored on the next shift, and the momentum had gone the other way. We couldn’t stop it. It’s a game of momentum, and we lost it.”
The Wolverines started off on top with a goal at 6:06 of the first period. Motte fought off a few BU defenders behind the net before skating over the goal line and wheeling to get a shot on net. LaCouvee stopped it, but Alex Kile whacked at the rebound on the stick side. LaCouvee didn’t have the post completely covered, and the puck snuck through.
Michigan made it 2-0 on a power-play goal just over halfway through the period. The puck pinballed off of various players near the crease before landing on the stick of Cooper Marody, who flipped on a high shot on the glove side from just a few feet away.
Matt Lane had the best Terriers’ chance of the period with about a minute left in the frame when Ryan Cloonan set him up for a point-blank shot. Michigan goalie Steve Racine went down, and Lane shot it into his pad.
Despite a total of five power plays for the two teams in the second period, no goals were scored, but Michigan was still the better team, enjoying a 52-35 advantage in shot attempts. BU couldn’t sustain much, and Michigan hounded them whenever they had the puck.
“Those periods were tough to watch,” Quinn said. “We really didn’t have a lot going on for ourselves. … We had some real good players bobbling pucks and making tough decisions. We just looked mentally and physically slow.
“But the second period ends, and it’s just 2-0, and you think, ‘Well, if we get the next one, anything can happen.'”
Indeed it did. BU shut down the Wolverines’ shot attempts for the first 10 minutes before exploding with the two goals in 12 seconds. On a power play at 10:44, Danny O’Regan skated into the zone and fired a wrist shot from about 30 feet that beat Racine.
Then BU’s third line scored again almost immediately. Bobo Carpenter and A.J. Greer got the puck behind the Wolverines’ net, and Robbie Baillargeon carried it over the goal line and banked it off of Racine and in.
Just 38 seconds later, Motte raced in for a breakaway, and Doyle Somerby whacked his stick hard from behind to break up the play. Although it appeared to be purely stick-to-stick contact, the referee called a penalty shot. Motte skated in and shot early on it, but LaCouvee had it covered. After the save, the ebullient goaltender skated out into the faceoff circle and did an elbow pump as if he had just scored a goal instead of preventing in.
“It was a huge save, and it gave us a spark,” Somerby said.
BU had all of the momentum and finally got rewarded with Somerby’s goal with just 2:54 remaining.
“The puck bounced out from in front of the net; I think their D tried to clear it,” Somerby said. “Luckily, I was able to keep it in just before the blue line, and one thing we talked about is that they try to block everything they can. So I tried to fake it and get around him, and there was a great net-front presence by Ahti [Oksanen]. I just put it on net, and anything can happen.”
BU fans had to hold their breath while killing off a penalty after that, but they hung on for a rousing victory.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Quinn said. “You’re not going to play 34 great games; it’s hard to do that at this level. The key is when you don’t have, one what can you make of it? And we made two points of it.”
