UMass Lowell shut out at home, can’t sweep Boston University

LOWELL – For the second weekend in a row, the UMass Lowell hockey team was unable to pull off a Hockey East sweep at home.

One night after pulling out a thrilling overtime road victory over No. 20 Boston University, the River Hawks returned home to the Tsongas Center looking to bank more league points.

But the Terriers had other ideas, as BU’s sophomore forward Cole Eiserman score a late goal in the second period, followed by a Nick Roukounakis goal in the third to help BU get a 3-0 win on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 5,856.

“I thought it was a good game for the bulk of the night. I didn’t have a problem with the effort. The execution wasn’t there tonight, and we certainly made it hard on ourselves in the offensive zone, and weren’t able to get shots through,” UML head coach Norm Bazin said. “So we could do a better job that way and figure out what we can do to create more offense in the offensive zone, because I thought the effort with their first touches, for the most part were there, and the guys were hungry, but had nothing to show for it.”

Boston University goalie Mikhal Yegorov was fantastic in net, with 23 saves in the victory, and forward Ben Merrill netted a late open net goal to seal the win.

The River Hawks fell to 2-6 on home ice.

The River Hawks (8-14-0, 4-8-0) hoped to take the season series against the ranked Boston University Terriers (12-9-1, 8-6-0) after their 4-3 overtime win the night prior at Agganis Arena in Boston.

Early in the first period, senior center Dillan Bentley had a shot in front of the net that flew wide at the 18:00 mark. BU freshman forward Jack Murtagh found himself alone with a wide open shot in front, but River Hawks goalie Austin Elliott made a great blocker save to keep things even.

UMass Lowell was able to attain its first power play opportunity of the game after a boarding call with 9:50 to go in the period, but their advantage was short lived, receiving a hooking call only four seconds into their power play chance to get back to an even 4-on-4 for the next two minutes. Both goalies traded big saving plays, as BU’s Yegorov made his at the 6:00 mark, with Elliott following that up with another great blocker save with 4:30 to go in the first. The Terriers got their first full power play chance of the game after a tripping call on the River Hawks with 1:33 to go. The first period ended scoreless, with UML leading shots on goal in the period, 6-4.

In the second period, UML had a good scoring chance in front on a one-timer opportunity, only to be denied by Yegorov with a phenomenal diving save at the 15:00 mark. BU was given its second power play after a cross checking call on the River Hawks with 12:52 to go, but would be given an interference call only a minute and a half later to give UML its third power play chance as well.

Elliott made another great save with 6:00 left as BU failed to corral the rebound off his blocker. BU’s Eiserman had a big breakaway chance with 3:00 to play, but his shot went wide right, as the game appeared to stay 0-0 heading into the third. Eiserman was able to make up for his mistake in miraculous fashion, however, scoring an unassisted goal with only 1.7 seconds left to give Boston University a huge 1-0 lead heading into the third, his ninth of the season.

Knowing they had to be aggressive out the gates, the River Hawks opened up the third period with a slap shot from left wing Jay Ahearn that was saved glove side by Yegorov. UML dominated the first 10 minutes in shots on goal, with nine compared to BU with four.

The Terriers had a 3-on-1 opportunity with 11:00 left, but Elliott kept the River Hawks in the game with a nice save, stick side. As the clock ran under 10 minutes to play, BU kept on the attack. With 9:20 left, Roukounakis was able to put another one in the back of the net, this time a rebound that bounced off Elliott’s left blocker, giving the Terriers a 2-0 lead with a little under half the period remaining.

With three minutes left, the River Hawks opted to pull Elliott, giving them an extra attacker needing two goals to extend the game. This decision would prove to be detrimental, as BU’s Merrill scored an empty net goal with 2:00 left to give the Terriers a 3-0 lead, and eventual win against the River Hawks.