One down, three to go.
BU lives to see another day after a 4-1 victory over Vermont in the first round of the Hockey East tournament, but the Terriers’ road to a conference title and an automatic NCAA Tournament bid only gets tougher from here. A lot tougher.
And the way BU played at Agganis Arena on Wednesday night isn’t a strong indicator that the Terriers will have success moving forward.
The first period was good enough — BU outshot the Catamounts 10-4 and headed into the first intermission up 1-0 thanks to Cole Eiserman’s power-play goal. But it wasn’t totally convincing.
“We could have got to the net a little bit more,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “I thought we passed up on some shots in the first period.”
The sixth-seeded Terriers (17-16-2) were clearly the better team for the first 20 minutes, but that’s a low bar. No. 11 Vermont (13-21-1) played like the lowest seed in the tournament.
The Catamounts weren’t dangerous whatsoever. They lacked purpose with the puck, settling for dump-and-chases. Their only source of offense was odd-man rushes. Was BU’s play in the first a factor in Vermont’s struggles? Sure, but again, the Terriers were nowhere near dominant.
The second period is where the problem lies.
“For whatever reason, we just got away from our game,” Pandolfo said.
That right there is the sentence of the season. Pandolfo can barely get through a game at this point without saying it, and he’s never dropped the “for whatever reason,” suggesting no one knows why.
BU’s play fell off a cliff in the second period, which isn’t new. It was as sloppy as ever. The Terriers’ middle frame was defined by their worst habit — poor puck management.
Pandolfo said his team stopped playing below the goal line and lacked a strong forecheck, two key tenets of the game plan against Vermont.
The Catamounts outshot BU 13-10 in the second period and tied the game at one just 2:51 into the frame. After a solid first period, the Terriers looked lethargic to start the second.
Lazy passes and weak forechecks were everywhere — exactly the issues Pandolfo emphasized in the lead-up to Wednesday’s contest. Vermont took control of the game in the second period because BU let it happen.
“We just tried to make too many plays and forced stuff,” Eiserman said postgame. “When we stick to simple hockey, then our skill can take over. Which is something that we need to do better.”
That’s the kind of statement that’s acceptable early in the season, not when you’re playing for it. It’s clear the Terriers are still learning how to play the game the right way, 35 games in.
Even though Pandolfo often says “for whatever reason,” it’s evident that BU knows where it struggles — yet tangible change still hasn’t come.
Pandolfo’s questioning likely stems from frustration that the Terriers haven’t consistently made the conscious effort to be smart with the puck — not from a lack of understanding about the problem.
Luckily for the Terriers, the Catamounts aren’t a good enough team to truly make them pay for a sloppy period and a half. The start of the third period was much of the same, until Tynan Lawrence, a 17-year-old, made a mature play to set up Eiserman for his second goal of the game.
That won’t be the case Saturday at UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinal, as the Huskies need a run to reach the NCAA Tournament. After UConn — if the highest remaining seeds in the tournament continue to win — the Terriers would face Providence in the semifinal and UMass in the championship game.
BU will need to play 180 consecutive minutes of quality hockey to extend its season past March 21, starting with a full 60 on Saturday. If the Terriers weren’t able to do so against overmatched Vermont, or rarely any opponent across this season, why would they be able to from here?