Point Taken

Although Vermont lost a third period lead, they had to be happy to escape Agganis Arena with a point on Friday.

Despite getting outshot by a 40-24 margin and surrendering a tying goal with 5:18 remaining, the Catamounts rode a 37 save performance by Rob Madore to a 3-3 tie in front of 5,009 fans at Agganis Arena. It marked the first time in Boston University history that the team had played four overtime games in a row.

Corey Trivino led the way with a goal and an assist for the Terriers, who also received goals from Eric Gryba and Ross Gaudet. Chris McCarthy, David Pacan, and Wahsontiio Stacy scored for UVM.

In their last game, Boston University fell behind 2-0 before piling up a ton of shots on goal and ultimately tying it up late in the third period.

That happened tonight as well, but Terrier coach Jack Parker believed that the similarities ended there. Parker was pleased with his team’s effort against Cornell but fumed about his players’ lack of intensity tonight.

“On paper, it looks like it’s an okay game for us,” Parker said. “We attempt 81 shots to their 42 — shots on target almost two to one. But in reality, it’s just covering up that we aren’t a hungry hockey team. We think it’s okay to just come out and see what’s going to happen. Huge points on the line tonight, and we were so far away from being ready to play that it’s brutal.

“We might as well have been in a pickup game at the Boston Skating Club,” Parker added. “My team does not know how to get ready for a game. They hope the other team will suck. Or they think they’re all set because they just got a win and a tie over Thanksgiving break. We continually spot teams goals in the first period. In general, it was what we call a masked performance. It looked okay. A couple of our big guns absolutely stunk the house out.”

“I think BU played better than we did tonight, no question about it,” Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon said. “I think that the shots were pretty indicative of puck possession. I thought that they carried the play for the second half of the game, which was disappointing. We’re lucky to come away with a point in this building tonight, but we’ll take it.”

In the first 15 minutes, BU outshot UVM dramatically, connected well on passes, and, for a change, won an overwhelming majority of faceoffs. Then they proceed to give up two goals in 34 seconds.

At 16:51, Colin Vock made a great effort to get the puck to the net, drawing several defenders to him. His shot was weak, but the attention he drew left Chris McCarthy all alone for the rebound and an easy goal. On the very next shift, the Catamounts went up 2-0 on a wrist shot that David Pacan sniped from about 20 feet out past goalie Grant Rollheiser.

Playing 4-on-4, BU made it a one-goal game early in the second period. Corey Trivino raced in on the right wing before crossing to Vinny Saponari in the left-wing circle. The sophomore threaded a pass to defensive defenseman Eric Gryba, who improbably found himself at the far post for an easy tap-in and his third goal in 129 collegiate games.

“I guess the monkey’s off my back this year,” quipped Gryba.

Vermont regained the two goal cushion just over four minutes later. The BU defensemen coughed it up in their own end, leading to a Vermont chance. Rollheiser stopped the initial shot, but Wahsontiio Stacey knocked in the rebound from a sharp angle, banking it off of the goalie’s pads and through the five-hole for a rather soft goal.

BU got that one back 14:22. Kevin Gilroy crossed the puck from the left-wing circle into the crease, where Wade Megan tussled with a defender but managed to tap the puck to Ross Gaudet for the tap-in at the far post.

The Terriers tied it at 14:42 of the third period with just five seconds left on a power play. Max Nicastro took the initial shot from the point, and Saponari hit the rebound off the post. The puck sat on the edge of the crease with Madore down and tangled up with a Catamount defenseman. Trivino swooped in and buried the motionless puck to tie it.

Colby Cohen almost scored with 21 seconds remaining in regulation, when his shot beat Madore glove side. The red light went on, and Cohen raised his stick, but a video review showed that the puck clearly went off the post. BU proceeded to dominate in overtime, and Joe Pereira hit another post. Alex Chiasson had another chance with 50 seconds left, but the game ended in a 3-3 deadlock.

“We were shooting ourselves in the foot in the first period,” Gryba said. “We weren’t ready to play and weren’t doing the simple little things. Maybe that’s attributable to being a young team; maybe that falls on the captains’ shoulders, and we’re not doing a good enough job. But we’re going to make sure we’re ready for tomorrow night’s game.”

BU (4-7-3 overall, 2-6-2 in Hockey East) hosts archrival Boston College on Saturday night, while Vermont (6-5-2, 4-4-2) returns home to play New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon.