No. 9 UConn ties No. 10 BU, 2-2

The No. 9 UConn Huskies skated to an entertaining tie with the No. 10 Boston University Terriers at Toscano Family Family Ice Forum on Tuesday night. The visitors claimed the extra point with a 2-0 edge in the shootout.

Jake Richard and Ethan Gardula scored for the Huskies. In goal, Tyler Muszelik stopped 22 of the 24 shots that came his way. UConn won the special teams battle 1-0 with a power play goal while the penalty kill pitched a shoutout with a 4-4 performance.

The Huskies got the first power play of the night just 2:43 in and immediately capitalized. Joey Muldowney skated in to win the face-off then fired a wide-open shot from the slot. While he was denied, the rebound went straight to Richard on the side, who buried it to put UConn ahead 1-0.

Moments later, the Huskies went back on the power play but couldn’t replicate their success from earlier. The lead remained one.

From there, it was BU’s chance to play with the extra skater. A holding penalty against Nick Carabin gave the Terriers their first power play, then Tabor Heaslip joined him to hand the visitors a 5-on-3 for 28 seconds.

UConn’s penalty kill held strong and preserved the lead but BU got on the board eventually. The Terriers made an incisive pass from the blue line to the back post for a tap-in to even the score at 1-1.

In the second period, both sides had half-chances but never seriously threatened the net. They remained tied entering the final stanza.

The Huskies went back ahead early in the period when Gardula re-directed a shot that went up and over BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov, then the Terriers responded on a skillful effort from Cole Hutson to knot the score at 2-2.

Neither side could find a winner from there, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra period, Hutson had a breakaway chance from a UConn turnover but the puck bounced off his stick before he could get a shot off, keeping the game alive. Down the other end, Richard nearly won it when he battled the puck out of the air but Yegorov cleared the puck off the goal line with his stick.

Despite opportunities from both teams to win it, overtime remained scoreless and the contest ended in a tie.

In the shootout, BU scored on both its attempts while the Huskies were shutout, handing the visitors the coveted extra point towards the Hockey East standings.

With the tie, UConn moves to 17-10-4 on the season and 9-8-4 in Hockey East play. Next, the Huskies will prepare for a home-and-home with Northeastern starting on Friday in Storrs.