No. 8 UConn men’s hockey downed by No. 7 BU, 3-2

UConn men’s hockey closed its first half with a loss, falling to the No. 7 Boston University Terriers, 3-2. The Huskies took a 1-0 lead thanks to Ty Amonte but gave up three unanswered goals in the second period and never recovered. Matthew Wood made it interesting when he scored with 2:06 left but UConn couldn’t complete the comeback bid.

While the Huskies’ penalty kill excelled with a 5-5 night, the power play couldn’t do anything. The unit went 0-5 and only managed five shots during those advantages.

Arsenii Sergeev made 27 of 30 saves in the losing effort. UConn will go into the break with a 11-5-3 record, though four of those losses came in its final six games.

UConn got heavily out-shot in the early going as BU put 10 shots on net before the Huskies managed one. However, they made their chances count. Amonte fired the team’s second shot at BU goalie Drew Commesso then collected his own rebound and scored to give UConn a 1-0 lead, which it took into the end of the opening period.

The game began to unravel for the Huskies after the intermission, though. UConn was poised to get its first power play of the day but after the whistle, John Spetz laid out a BU player and picked up a roughing penalty to mitigate the advantage. During the ensuing 4-on-4 play, Nick Zabaneh used the extra ice to his advantage by slicing through the Huskies’ defense and sending a back-hander past Sergeev to tie the game at 1-1.

It didn’t take long for the Terriers to go ahead afterwards. Sergeev stopped an initial chance by Jamie Armstrong but ended up out of position and allowed Lane Hutson to pick up the loose puck and skate around the goalie to give BU a 2-1 advantage.

UConn had plenty of opportunities to tie the game — none better than its two power plays in the second period — but couldn’t capitalize. The Terriers added another on a tip-in from Wilmer Skoog, which put the Huskies down 3-1 entering the third period.

Again, UConn had its chances. It opened the final stanza on the advantage and had another a few minutes later but didn’t do much with either. In fact, the Huskies best look of the third period came while shorthanded. Chase Bradley ended up 1-on-1 with Commesso but couldn’t get the puck by.

UConn turned up the pressure in the final minutes and even pulled within one after Wood scored with the extra skater but it wasn’t enough.

Now, the Huskies will go on their winter break for the next two weeks before returning on Dec. 29 to begin its home-and-home with LIU.