AMHERST — Mitchell Chaffee summarized it well.
“If it’s the power play, you’ve got to score and if it’s the penalty kill, you’ve got to kill the penalties off,” the junior captain said.
Both of those proved to be too tall of a task for UMass on Saturday night.
The 10th-ranked Minutemen were ready to play at even strength against No. 4 Boston College, but they simply had no match for the Eagles’ special teams. Boston College killed off all four UMass power plays and was credited with three man-advantage goals, though the Eagles scored six seconds after a fourth power play ended. The special teams work was enough to hand the Minutemen a 6-3 loss at the Mullins Center.
“Boston College really took advantage of everything that we gave them,” Carvel said. “Their power play was outstanding … and the few turnovers we made in the offensive zone, they had some rushes up the ice for some nice goals.”
The Eagles (13-5-0, 7-3-0 Hockey East) wasted very little time attacking the UMass penalty killing units and were able to convert early on their first two advantages. David Cotton squeaked one past Filip Lindberg just 12 seconds into Boston College’s first power play and Ben Finklestein hammered home a shot 22 seconds in the Eagles’ second chance on the man advantage.
It took a little longer for Boston College to score its third power-play goal, but the Eagles cashed in just over a minute into the advantage when a blocked shot fell to Logan Hutsko for an easy pass into an empty net.
“They had a lot of motion and they’ve got guys going backdoor, so it gets confusing a little bit to know exactly who you have,” senior defenseman Jake McLaughlin said. “They got a lucky bounce or two, but they’re extremely skilled and they make plays all over the ice, so it makes it tough on us for sure.”
There was no stellar performance from Lindberg to bail out UMass (14-7-1, 7-4-1), either, despite the sophomore earning his second straight start. Lindberg made a flashy glove save early in the first period, but couldn’t replicate his scene-stealing stops from the previous night. Boston College did too good of a job burying the chances it had on those odd-man rushes and giving Lindberg no chance at robbing them.
Lindberg’s night ended early after a John Leonard turnover at the Eagles’ blue line led to a 4-on-1 chance for Boston College. Marshall Warren potted the easy goal after UMass was slow to get back to put Boston College up 3-1 and goalie Matt Murray was brought on in relief. Yet the junior didn’t fare much better, allowing three goals of his own on 15 shots, but he didn’t have much of a chance on the shots that ripped past him, either.
“The first one, which was a big momentum-changer, Fille could have had that one,” Carvel said. “But the rest of their goals, they’re putting it up under the bar, going side-to-side, making our goalie move. For the goaltenders, Fille made some big saves on similar types (Friday) that probably should have been in the net, and (Saturday) they went in the net.”
The scoreline ruined UMass’ best start of the season as the Minutemen owned the first 12 minutes of play. The Minutemen outshot the Eagles 14-2 in that span, creating a boatload of chances on their first power play of the night. They finally cashed in on a give-and-go from Jack Suter to Chaffee for a tap-in goal midway through the first period.
But just a 1:51 later, Colin Felix was whistled for tripping when his hip check was a half second late at his own blue line. Boston College tied the game 12 seconds later and the game flipped.
“There hasn’t been many games where we’ve been that good in the first 10 minutes,” Carvel said. “Our bench was really excited and you could feel we came out ready to play. We had the upper hand then that power-play goal gave them a lot of life and it was the biggest turning point in the game.”
Carvel said he felt his team was better at even strength, which manifested itself in UMass’ 27-18 advantage in shots 5-on-5, but that his team lacked the poise to capitalize on those early chances. Despite throwing just 12 shots on goal over the final 40 minutes, UMass scored twice and rang the posts behind Spencer Knight twice on those opportunities.
It was a disappointing split of a top-10 series for UMass and ends a tough two-week stretch at 1-3 against top-10 foes after being swept last weekend in Denver. However, it was an opportunity for growth, and that was the biggest takeaway from the weekend for the Minutemen.
“We know we can hang with the best of them,” McLaughlin said. “It was a good learning lesson for our group moving forward. Are we happy with a split? No, we’re not, but if you were to take one thing away from it, it’s definitely a learning lesson.”