UConn outclasses Terriers
Swept in home and home, fall back in Hockey East
It wasn’t pretty if your allegiance falls on the Boston University side of the rink.
Saturday night’s 6-1 loss left the Agganis Arena crowd of 3,808 in a decidedly glum mood thanks to a hat trick performance by UConn senior right wing Alexander “Sasha” Payusov. Payusov combined with linemates Ben Freeman (goal, three assists) and senior center Carter Turnbull (3 assists) to produce 10 points.
It was the first-ever homeand-home series sweep over BU for UConn and gives the Huskies their second series sweep this month (New Hampshire). It allowed the Huskies (14-13-4, 11-8-2 HE) to post its most-ever league points (24) since joining Hockey East in 2014-2015. UConn also vaulted past BU (12-11-8, 9-7-5 HE) into a fourth-place tie with UMass Lowell, as BU dropped into sixth place.
“I thought we played three pretty good periods of hockey. Our captains told the team that we had won a game last year in overtime and then came up here and lost 2-0. You have to be hungry to sweep. We can’t be splitting series. I was proud of their determination on the puck,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh, a North Andover native and former Bowdoin College standout.
For BU, file the outcome under ugly.
“You have to take your cap off to Connecticut. They played a terrific game. They were strong, physical. It was good as I’ve seen UConn play since I’ve been at BU,” said BU coach Albie O’Connell. “We looked like we were hung over from (Friday night). With a young team, we didn’t play with any purpose in anything we tried to do. We could have shot the puck 40 times. We didn’t shoot.”
The Huskies took Friday night’s encounter in Hartford by a 4-3 overtime score on the strength of a goal by the Russian-born Payusov. That brought UConn within a point of previous fifthplace BU in the ever-changing Hockey East standings.
“I’ll look at them (standings Sunday). It’s just a lot of negative energy. It’s something you can’t control. What is manageable is preparing for the next game,” said UConn’s Cavanaugh.
UConn, which held a 38-21 edge in shots, broke on top at the 7:48 mark when fourth-line left wing Zac Robbins was allowed to roam free into the right circle where he snapped a shot far side to beat BU goalie Ashton Abel. It was the fifth goal of the season for Robbins.
The hockey gods were clearly not smiling on Terriers in the first period. A prime example occurred when senior captain Patrick Curry led a 2-on-1 with freshman left wing Jack Armstrong. Curry elected to wait for a hard-charging David Farrance, joining the play late. The junior who leads all college defensemen in goals was foiled by an offbalanced Tomas Vomacka (20 saves) at 10:23.
The lack of puck luck was even more evident at 14:29 when senior right wing Patrick Harper rang the left post halfway up.
In the middle period. UConn’s Turnbull hopped over the boards and had a clean break. The puck bobbled momentarily giving Abel (28 saves) an opportunity to block the backhand attempt at 7:15.
UConn eventually made it 2-0 just 26 seconds later at 7:41. It was Payusov, who reached his own rebound at the right of the crease and poked it home for his 10th goal and 60th career point. Turnbull and Benjamin Freeman were awarded helpers on the play.
BU was desperate to change momentum and did it with a power-play goal off the stick of Curry, his 17th of the season at 11:00. The assists were garnered by stellar freshman center Trevor Zegras and Farrance.
BU faced a deep hole when Payusov played the sniper’s role and fired the puck over the nearside shoulder of Abel just 41 seconds into the third period.
“He works on that every day in practice. He tries to hone his craft,” said Cavanaugh.
Payusov completed his hat trick when he was sent in behind the defense on a pass from Freeman at 6:14 and put a shot between the wickets of Abel for a commanding 4-1 lead. A subsequent goal by Freeman, just three seconds into a power-play opportunity at 12:48, stretched the lead to 5-1 with Turnbull and second-line right wing Jonny Evans also getting on the score sheet. Husky fourth-line center Justin Howell would add his third of the season with 48 seconds remaining but it hardly was needed.