BOSTON — Pity the poor fan who lingered too long at the concession stand during tonight’s intermission.
Those who weren’t back in their seats for the beginning of the second period missed the only goal of the game.
Ahti Oksanen scored the game’s only goal just 29 seconds into the second period as No. 11 Boston University emerged victorious in a 1-0 goaltending battle with Michigan State in front of 4,639 at Agganis Arena.
It was the Terriers’ home opener and junior netminder Matt O’Connor didn’t disappoint the home fans, earning his first career shutout in his 42nd collegiate game. He stopped all 29 Spartan shots, including 14 in a third period, that had the BU faithful biting their nails in the final seconds.
O’Connor outdueled Michigan State goalie Jake Hildebrand, who frustrated the Terriers with 39 saves on 40 shots.
“I played against that goaltender in junior hockey,” O’Connor said. “Hildebrand is a hell of a goalie, so I knew going in he’d be giving us a lot of trouble. I thought maybe it would be a bit of a goalie battle. Our ‘D’ and forwards played excellent in their own zone, players were blocking shots, and it made easy for me to get the monkey off my back and get my first shutout.”
“[O’Connor] was really strong,” BU coach David Quinn said of the 6-foot-6 Toronto native. “A lot of times, they took the puck to the net from below the goal line and he was really strong down low.”
Characteristically, O’Connor never ended up in a position where he needed to make a truly flashy save. Asked about his development over his collegiate career, he mentioned working on rebound control, moving laterally, tracking the puck and playing the puck.
He looked good on all fronts tonight.
Early on, it didn’t look as if BU would need O’Connor to pitch his first goose egg to eke out a win. The Terriers had a whopping 31 shot attempts in the first period, and it seemed as if it would just be a matter of time before they put a handful of pucks in the net.
But what might have been a deluge turned out to be just a single drop.
On the first shift of the second period, freshman Jack Eichel showed a little of why he’s been earning so much attention of late, dishing a pass to Oksanen in the right-wing circle to set up a pretty top-shelf backhander for the lone goal.
BU’s top line of Eichel, Oksanen and Danny O’Regan combined for 15 shots total and O’Regan had a terrific chance on the first shift of the third period when Oksanen’s flip pass sprung him on a sudden breakaway, but Hildebrandt stuffed the shot with his left pad.
The Terriers began to look a little frustrated as Michigan State continued to hang around as the game wore on. Eichel had some dazzling moves with the puck, and all four BU lines had flashes of brilliance. The Terriers definitely have undergone a real makeover since last year’s dismal season, adding 10 freshmen and dramatically upgrading their depth and skill.
Perhaps their skill worked against them a bit at times tonight, though.
“Our problem will be that we will get too cute at times this year,” Quinn said. “We need to understand that you’re going to have to get dirty goals and have a net-front presence more often than we have.”
The game got really exciting in the last 10 minutes, with a little help from a pair of BU penalties. The Terriers had several strong penalty kills, and then BU withstood pressure from an extra attacker, surviving a wild scramble near the net in the last five seconds.
Finally, the BU fans could exhale when the final buzzer sounded.
“I thought if you were a fan of the game, it was a pretty entertaining game,” Michigan State coach Tom Anastos said. “At times, it was a track meet – lots of shots, great saves, not lots of goals, but lots of scoring chances during the game. I thought we played hard, weathered certain storms, and the goaltending was excellent at both ends of the rink. I was happy with our effort, disappointed with the result.”
“It’s always nice to win,” Quinn said. “Sometimes it’s not a beauty contest, and you’ve got to win games like that. I give Michigan State a lot of credit. I thought they really turned the heat up on us late in the game.”
BU (2-0-0) hosts Michigan tomorrow night. Quinn said he has not yet decided whether O’Connor will play against the Wolverines, given that the netminder only recently got back to practicing after recovering from an injury. If Quinn decides that O’Connor might not have enough in the tank, he could opt for freshman Connor LaCouvee, who won the season opener at Massachusetts.
Michigan State (1-2-0) plays at Massachusetts-Lowell tomorrow night, as the Spartans continue their stretch of playing exclusively against Hockey East schools thus far this season.
