BOSTON — With last year’s freshman sensation Jack Eichel leaving Boston University and primed to make his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres within a week, the Terriers faithful have to be eager to see what coach David Quinn and his staff can do for an encore when it comes to recruiting.
Based on Saturday night’s exhibition game against Acadia, the early indications are positive.
Freshman Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson — a second-round draft pick for the Boston Bruins in June — scored two third-period goals to break open a tie game and lead the Terriers to a 4-2 win in front of 2,974 fans at Agganis Arena.
For good measure, freshman defenseman Shane Switzer also scored off a great feed from another newcomer — right wing Bobo Carpenter — to give the Terriers more reason to feel good about their incoming class. 6-foot-5 freshman Jordan Greenway also skated on the first line and looked right at home, while freshman Charlie McAvoy got plenty of minutes and a few scoring chances from the blue line.
For BU’s coach, there were some encouraging signs but also plenty of room for improvement.
“Pretty much what I expected,” Quinn said. “You play your first game, and you have about six hours of practice in a month: You’re going to like some things, and some things are going to jump out at you that you’re going to have to work on.
“Overall, I thought it was a pretty good night. It gives us a chance to watch the film and look at the things we did well and didn’t do well. Either way, if there’s a hockey game, you want to win it, and it was nice to get a win.”
With last year’s regular goaltender, Matt O’Connor, signing with the Ottawa Senators, the goaltending duties were split by sophomore Connor LaCouvee and senior Sean Maguire, who has returned after a medical redshirt year. Maguire looked sharp, stopping all 15 shots he faced to pick up the win.
The Terriers have barely practiced, and they got off to a somewhat sluggish start before senior Danny O’Regan scored on a fluke goal at 9:53. O’Regan circled behind net and attempted to slip a pass through the crease to Ahti Oksanen, only to have the puck go off the skate of an Acadia defender and into the net.
Acadia got the next two goals. At 12:06, Remy Giftopoulos’s shot from the left-wing boards went through traffic before slipping through LaCouvee. Exactly three minutes later, Mike Cazzola sprung Zachary Franko for a breakaway, and Franko put the puck on his backhand before deftly flipping it in high on LaCouvee’s glove side.
BU tied it up early in the second with a goal from an unlikely source. Switzer came into the season as the No. 8 defenseman on the Terriers depth chart, but he was in action with BU captain Matt Grzelcyk still a few weeks away from playing after offseason surgery and sophomore Brandon Fortunato day to day with a minor injury.
Switzer ended up getting a goal when Carpenter drove to the net on the left-wing side before finding Switzer on the right wing with a nifty backhand pass. Switzer had half the net to hit and didn’t miss it.
Switzer nearly scored again late in the period when he pounced on a rebound of a Mike Moran shot, only to have Acadia goalie Brandon Glover live up to his name with a great snare.
“He played really well,” Quinn said. “We were excited when we got him. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, sees the ice well, jumps into the rush. I thought he was probably one of our better defensemen tonight.”
That set the stage for Karlsson’s heroics in the third. At 5:10, sophomore A.J. Greer made an outstanding pass from the left wing, slipping it under a defender’s leg and finding the Swedish centerman for the tip-in at the far post.
Then, at 13:15, Ahti Oksanen sprung Karlsson — known around BU as JFK — on a breakaway right after the freshman emerged from the penalty box. He was thwarted but drew a penalty shot, which was nothing short of spectacular. He brought the puck in on his forehand, began a move to his backhand, pulled it back, faked the shot, got the goalie to commit and then tucked it in low on the glove side.
“That was a heck of a shot,” Quinn said. “That’s a good goalie, too, and he had him down and out. It was a heck of a move. He’s great on his edges and has great poise.”
BU opens the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 10 at Union.
“I think we’re going to be a good team,” Quinn said. “I like our balance up front. I think without having Fortunato and Grzelcyk, it gave some D a chance to play in situations that they’re not accustomed to playing. … I like our goaltending. Still, pretty much what I thought — no surprises tonight.”
