Greene, Caron power BU men's hockey to 2-1 overtime win over UNH

Today at 08:31 PM

BOSTON — Mathieu Caron has had a season of ups and downs. 

But the Terriers have the senior netminder to thank for Saturday's 2-1 overtime win over New Hampshire at Agganis Arena. The goalie made 33 saves and played hero as the Terriers weathered a third-period storm before taking all three Hockey East points in overtime. 

BU looked the faster and more skilled team

The Terriers began the game with energy and a string of good shifts, and that speed and intensity continued throughout the game — for the most part. Zone entries were clean, passes were crisp and BU's lines continued to play well together. 

As Pandolfo mentioned after Friday's win over the Wildcats, the Terriers are beginning to find their identity as a fast-skating, relentless team, but they have yet to put it all together in a 60-minute effort. 

That sentiment remained accurate on Saturday. UNH took the early lead and hung around by finding pockets of offensive zone time where it could, and dominated much of the third period, but the Terriers had spells of excellence throughout and played like the better team overall. 

Penalties remain an issue

After Friday's win in Durham, Pandolfo said he could speak on BU's lack of discipline until he's "blue in the face" and that he "doesn't know what to do" to address the issue. 

He'll have to keep searching for answers after Saturday, since the Terriers took another six minor penalties in the game. Improvements will be necessary if BU wants any chance at sweeping — or even splitting — next weekend's series with Boston College.

Coming into Saturday, the Terriers had taken the most penalty minutes in the nation with 335. Second-place Holy Cross is 27 minutes behind. 

Cole Eiserman's one-timer on the power play remains a cheat code

BU fans have grown used to it by now — particularly at Agganis Arena. When the freshman forward finds the time and space to unleash a one-timer from the right circle on the man advantage, he rarely misses the mark. 

Like many of the goalies Eiserman has scored on from that spot, New Hampshire's Jared Whale had little chance to stop the freshman's tying blast at 7:34 of the second period. The shot overpowered Whale, who couldn't handle the extra speed and power that Eiserman is able to generate. He nearly scored another from the same spot late in the second period, but the puck whistled just wide.

Before the season, the Blog asked Eiserman's former strength and conditioning coach with the U.S. National Team Development Program, Brian Galivan, about where the extra juice on Eiserman's shot comes from. 

"That's not a question for me," he answered, "but for God."

How it happened:

The Terriers had the better first five minutes of the opening period and generated a few nice chances — including several from the third line of sophomore Shane Lachance, freshman Kamil Bednarik and junior Devin Kaplan. 

But the Wildcats scored the game's first goal at 8:27 of the first period, when sophomore Nick Ring tapped the puck home from the doorstep after a feed from sophomore Ryan Conmy. 

Eiserman tied things up with his power-play blast at 7:34 of the second. Just before arriving back at the bench for the celebratory fistbump line, he stopped and nodded to the crowd, pointing at the '34' on his jersey. 

The Wildcats nearly took back the lead on a power play early in the third after Devin Kaplan took an elbowing minor. But a shot from UNH's high-powered junior forward Cy LeClerc whistled just wide and the Terriers were able to clear the zone after a few more chances.

After enduring a dominant stretch by New Hampshire late in the third, the Terriers survived to force overtime.

Once they got there, senior captain Ryan Greene came in clutch once again, slotting home the overtime winner at 1:00 of the frame to seal the win.