UConn moves past BU in Hockey East Quarterfinal, 5-3

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UConn is going back to Boston. On Saturday, the 3-seeded Huskies defeated the 6-seed Boston University Terriers in the Hockey East Quarterfinals at Toscano Family Ice Forum, 5-3.

With the win, UConn punches its ticket to the semifinals at TD Garden for the second straight year and third time in program history. Head coach Mike Cavanaugh also picked up his 200th career victory.

The Huskies played from ahead throughout. They scored the opening goal and never trailed in the contest. With the game tied at 2-2 entering the final period, they outscored the Terriers 3-1 to seal the win.

Five different players tallied UConn’s five goals: Jake Percival, Jake Richard, Ethan Whitcomb, Anthony Allain-Samaké and Joey Muldowney. In net, Tyler Muszelik stopped 29 of the 32 shots while on special teams, the Huskies went 1-4 on the power play and a perfect 3-3 on the penalty kill.

Percival put UConn on top less than seven minutes in. On a 2v1 rush, he sniped a shot that went off both posts and in to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Despite needing to kill two penalties the rest of the period, they went into the first intermission ahead — thanks in part to a block by Brendan Dunphy on the goal line.

77 seconds into the second period, BU answered back. UConn’s defense let Tynan Lawrence get in behind and he sent a pretty back-handed shot past Muszelik to pull the Terriers even.

The Huskies didn’t wait long to respond, though. On their first power play of the day, Richard drilled a one-timer into the twine to put UConn back in front, 2-1. The unit had a chance to double the advantage with another man-advantage soon after but struggled to do much with the extra skater.

Once again, BU tied it. After the Huskies had an opportunity turned away down one end, the Terriers took it the other way and scored it transition to make it 2-2. The visitors nearly pulled ahead soon when the puck landed on UConn’s goal line. However, the Huskies threw enough bodies in the way to keep it out and preserve the tie.

The two sides remained even at the second intermission.

Just like in the first two periods, UConn opened the third with an early goal. Whitcomb had his initial shot blocked but he collected the rebound and made the second chance count, burying a shot near-side to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead.

1:08 later, they doubled the advantage. Allain-Samaké let it fly from the top of the circles past a screened Yegorov to make it 4-2. The officials initially waved it off for goaltender interference on Viking Gustafsson Nyberg but after review, they determined that contact occurred outside the crease and overturned their call.

BU didn’t go down without a fight, though. The puck bounced past Allain-Samaké on the blue line, which sprung the Terriers on an odd-man rush. Ben Merrill kept it himself and fired a shot past Muszelik to cut UConn’s lead to one.

The Huskies’ power play again had the chance to extend the gap but couldn’t generate much. Soon after it expired, Percival and Tabor Heaslip each had opportunities in tight, only to be turned away by Yegorov.

BU pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with 1:40 remaining. Muldowney tried a long-range attempt for the empty-net but missed wide and iced the puck, prompting UConn to use its timeout with 1:06 remaining.

Muldowney redeemed himself immediately. He took the puck up ice, evaded a defender and buried an empty-netter with 55.7 remaining to clinch the Huskies’ spot in the semifinals.

With the win, UConn improves to 19-11-5 overall. The Huskies will play next on Friday in the Hockey East semifinals at the TD Garden. The opponent and puck drop time are still to be determined.

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