Twice BU fell behind by two goals, tonight. They dug themselves out of the hole once, but the second time was too much.
Merrimack scored on the game's first shot, just 48 seconds into period one. Brett Seney had the puck on the far side and looked to be defended well, but got off a shot that rang the post to Sean Maguire's left and banked in. It was a goal Maguire should have had. It was not a hard shot. Seney must have just caught him off angle a bit.
Merrimack added to the lead later in the frame on another weak goal. From where I was it was tough to see what really happened, but it looked as if Ben Bahe's shot from the side of the net just snuck though Maguire on the short side. Brain Christie and Marc Biega picked up assists on the play.
The score remained 2-0 until about five minutes into the second period, when John McCloud got BU on the board with his first goal of the year. It was a perfectly placed point shot that got though all the traffic in front and beat MC goalie Collin Delia (34 saves) upstairs.
Just a few minutes later, Matt Lane tied the game on one of the prettiest goals so far this year. Jordan Greenway made a hell of a pass to Lane on the near side in the slot. From there, Lane drove the net hard and shelfed a backhander from in tight. Greenway's assists was his first collegiate point. It was easily his best game of the year. He looked more involved and had a spark to his game that had been lacking. He needs to get going because he can be a huge piece to the offense if he does.
BU was dominating the frame until a four on four situation with about five minutes to play in the period. That's Merrimack exploded for two quick goals to put BU back on their heals. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson attempted a drop pass when entering the Merrimack zone and it completely backfired. It turned into a quick two on two rush the other way for Merrimack and from the top of the far circle, Bahe fed a pass to Hampus Gustafsson. Gustafsson wasted no time as he one touched the pass behind Maguire and into the goal.
Less than a minute later, Ethan Spaxman extended the MC lead back to two. It was another breakdown that allowed him to walk in from basically the point and rip off a shot in the mid slot. He beat Maguire blocker side for his first collegiate goal.
Maguire was taken out after the goal and Connor LaCouvee came in relief. Maguire made 10 saves on 14 shots. LaCouvee pitched a shutout out of the bullpen, stopping all 8 shots he faced.
A second comeback looked quite possible when Brandon Hickey scored early in the third. After a mad scramble in front of Delia that saw Ahti Oksanen get denied on rebound chance, the puck moved up to the near point where Hickey was stationed. He quickly gathered it and threw a rising shot on goal that whistled over Delia's right shoulder and clanged off the inside crossbar. It was Hickey's first of the year.
BU certainly had their chances later in the game, but could not cash in again. They outshot Merrimack 37-26.
Tonight's loss combined with Tuesday's marks the first time since February 2014 that BU lost back to back games.
Tomorrow night will be a very tough test against Denver at home at 4.
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