BU comes back to beat Merrimack in the third period

The Warriors outshot BU 39-30, but the Terriers found the net four times in the third

BOSTON — Merrimacks needs a 60-minute effort to win a hockey game.

A team loaded with talent like BU only needed 20 minutes.

The Terriers erased a Merrimack lead in the third period en route to a 6-3 in at Agganis Arena Friday night.

“We played really well for 40 minutes,” said Merrimack coach Scott Borek. “We understood we’re playing one of the most talented rosters in the country. In [the third period] you can’t give them as much free ice as we did. That let the game get away from us. We appreciate how talented they are, but I just wish we played smarter [in the third].”

Merrimack led 3-2 going into the third and had outshot BU 30-17. It was Merrimack’s best two periods of the season.

New York Islanders first-round pick Cole Eiserman scored two goals in the first 12 minutes to give the Terriers a 4-3 lead. Old friend Matt Copponi tacked on two goals for insurance in the final six minutes.

Drafted players scored all six goals by BU. San Jose third-rounder Brandon Svoboda scored BU’s first two goals.

BU’s third-period push was fueled by a combination of the Terriers’ talent and the Warriors’ inability to manage the puck well, which led to turnovers.

“We aren’t the team that should be throwing backhand passes in the neutral zone, that’s not our game,” Borek said. “We’re a really good team, but we aren’t going to be really good as individuals. We have a talented team that works really hard, but we can’t play outside our game, especially against a team like BU.”

Michael Citara scored for the Warriors in his return to the lineup after missing three games with an injury. Caden Cranston and Ivan Zivlak also scored for Merrimack.

There are signs that the Warriors are trending upward despite the loss. Merrimack controlled BU for two periods, and the Warriors are 2-2 (with an overtime loss) in their last four games after starting the year 1-5-1.

The Warriors have hit double-digit shots on goal in just five periods this season, but they’ve come in five out of the last nine periods the team has played. Merrimack’s 39 shots on goal against BU were the second-most this season (the high was 44, which was last week against Stonehill).

Merrimack’s 39 shots were the most BU has allowed all season.

“We not only had a lot of shots, we had multiple people at the net front,” Borek said. “We did that a lot in the first two periods, and we did it a little bit in the third, but we just didn’t have the pushback we needed to have in the third.”

Notebook: Strong night for Sacco on the dot

— Winger David Sacco took 11 faceoffs against BU and went 9-2. He entered the night with only five faceoffs taken this season.

“Luke [Weilandt] wasn’t feeling very comfortable on the faceoff for whatever reason and David was winning them, so he just had him keep going. Luke is a really good faceoff guy. But David took one, and won it clean, so I think Luke just had him keep taking them and he kept winning them.”