Keller stays hot for BU
Freshman center Clayton Keller had a hand in all three Boston University goals with a goal and two assists as the third-ranked Terriers turned back UMass, 3-1, in front of an Agganis Arena crowd of 4,136 last night. Keller matched his career high for points in a game and extended his current points streak to 14 games — the longest for a Terrier since Hobey Baker Award winner Jack Eichel in 2015. Keller has 1014-24 totals over that span.
“Every time he’s out there he is a threat to score,” said BU coach David Quinn. “He’s so competitive and he’s highly, highly intelligent.”
Last night, Keller (seven shots) combined with linemates Bobo Carpenter (goal, seven shots) and Jordan Greenway (assist, three shots) to produce 17 of BU’s 45 shots on net and register a combined plus-9.
BU (18-7-2, 11-4-2 Hockey East) leads the series by a whopping 61- 11-6 margin, and the first period supported that history as BU outshot UMass (5-21-2, 2-13-1), 22-8, and took a 2-0 lead.
“It was a good two points in a hard-fought game,” said Quinn. “There are no easy games in this league. People can look at records and make assumptions but this is a hard league.”
The Terriers broke on top at 3:37 following a nifty rush into the Minutemen zone by Carpenter, whose bid was stopped by UMass freshman Ryan Wischow (42 saves). BU kept the puck in the zone and the puck landed on the stick of the electrifying Keller. His shot from the left side hit the back of the net a moment later.
BU made it a 2-0 gap at 14:40 on a blistering goal by defenseman Dante Fabbro, set up by the Keller. It was the fourth goal of the freshman season for Fabbro.
“I thought we had a poor first period and allowed them to get a 2-0 lead. That’s difficult for us to overcome,” said first-year UMass coach Greg Carvel. “I thought at times we had pucks in good areas but we weren’t able to execute.”
UMass defenseman Ivan Chukarov was in the penalty box when North Reading’s Carpenter appeared to catch the nearside with a wrist shot into traffic. Although the red light flashed, the perfectly positioned referee immediately signaled no-goal and play continued.
BU began to find the penalty box in the second and the anemic UMass power play, ranked 59th among 60 Division 1 teams at a paltry 9.9 percent (15-of-151) prior to faceoff, took advantage. Senior sniper Ray Pigozzi tipped home a blast by freshman defenseman Shane Baer at 9:05 to halve the deficit. It was the sixth lamp-lighter of the season for oft-injured left winger.
“It was something we’ve been working on, to get shots to the back post. I was fortunate to get my stick on it and tipped it and it went in,” said Pigozzi.
BU goalie Jake Oettinger (28 saves) came up with a clutch stop off UMass left winger Kurt Keats moments after the Pigozzi connection to maintain BU’s one-goal lead. Oettinger later came up big for BU to start the third when he made consecutive saves on Niko Hildenbrand and Steve Iacobellis.
The pace began to swing endto-end with BU freshman Kieffer Bellows getting robbed by Wischow, who was down on the ice after making a save on a rush by Chad Krys. BU’s relentless pressure eventually paid dividends at 10:24 when Carpenter scored from the doorstep to rebuild a two-goal cushion with his 10th tally of the season.
The lone bright spot for UMass was keeping BU’s power play off the scoresheet in seven chances, although BU generated 19 shots during its man-up opportunities.
“I thought we were in a good place with the way we played in the last three games and I thought we would carry it into tonight. I can’t put my finger on it,” said Carvel.