Feb. 22, 2008

Box Score

BOSTON - The Boston University men's ice hockey team ran its win streak to five games with a 7-4 road win over No. 14 Northeastern on Friday evening at Matthews Arena. The Terriers, who improved to 13-14-4 overall and 11-8-3 in Hockey East play, continue their rise up the league standings and are now tied for third place with Vermont.

Seniors Bryan Ewing (2g, 1a) and Pete MacArthur (1g, 2a) each recorded a game-high three points, while junior Brandon Yip added a pair of goals. Juniors Chris Higgins and Jason Lawrence also scored for the Terriers and sophomore Brett Bennett made 25 saves to earn the win goal.

Northeastern, which fell to 14-12-3 (11-9-2 HEA), got a pair of goals from junior Joe Vitale and a 31-save performance from sophomore goaltender Brad Thiessen.

The Terriers gave up the game's first goal midway through the opening period, but Lawrence tied it up 71 seconds later to kick off a stretch of three unanswered goals for BU, which never trailed again.

BU, which entered the game on an 0-for-19 skid on the power play, got goals on two of its three chances with the man advantage. The Terriers were whistled for a season-high 14 penalties, but the penalty kill was successful on six of NU's seven power plays and also produced a shorthanded goal for the second time in eight days.

The shorthanded goal came on a wrister to the top glove side from Ewing at 8:20 of the third, giving BU a 5-2 lead. Vitale did his best to get his team back in the game, scoring twice in the final five minutes, but the Terriers negated each one with an empty-netter to seal the victory.

The teams combined for 11 penalties in the first period, but the Terriers never had a power play during the stanza. The Huskies got on the board first when Chad Costello scored at 10:36 just two seconds after Northeastern's first power play of the night expired.

A failed clearing attempt by the Huskies led to a quick equalizer. Freshman Nick Bonino got just enough of the puck on the clear to allow senior Dan McGoff to drop off a pass to Lawrence just outside the blue line. The junior turned in an impressive individual effort, eluding a defender before sneaking the puck past Thiessen at 11:47.

Another turnover by the Huskies allowed BU to take the lead at 14:46 of the first, as Yip stole the puck along the left side of the end boards and curled towards the cage before poking in his own rebound.

BU's first power-play chance of the evening proved to be a productive one as the Higgins was the beneficary of some precise passing from linemates MacArthur and Ewing at 3:19 of the second. A cross-ice pass from right-to-left by MacArthur gave Ewing a good look at the cage, but the senior couldn't help but notice that Higgins was wide open positioned at the right edge of the crease. An easy redirect gave the visitors a 3-1 edge.

Freshman Tyler McNeely got the Huskies back within one at 15:48 of the middle period on a 2-on-1 when he slid the puck underneath Bennett's left arm.

The Terriers were successful in regaining a multi-goal in the third, as MacArthur scored on a power play at 6:52 on assists from freshmen defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen.

BU's 12th penalty of the night soon followed, but a slick backhanded pass from Shattenkirk set Ewing free on a breakaway with only Thiessen to beat and the senior came through with his first career shorthanded tally at 8:20.

Both Ewing and Yip tacked on empty-net goals in the closing minutes after the Huskies pulled Thiessen following each of Vitale's tallies.

The two teams will wrap up their season series on Saturday (Feb. 23) at Agganis Arena beginning at 7 p.m.