BOSTON – On a night when the Boston University student body started its spring break, the Terriers were hard at work on the ice, defeating UMass Lowell, 5-3, in Game 1 of their Hockey East quarterfinal best-of-three series.

The Terriers began their matchup with the River Hawks by putting on early pressure, keeping the puck in the River Hawk zone.

Four minutes, 31 seconds into the first period BU forward Colin Wilson was penalized for an early hooking call. His time in the box wouldn’t last the entire two minutes.

The Terriers came into the game with the worst penalty kill in the conference and it continued to struggle, allowing three power play goals on the night.

At the 6:09 mark River Hawk captain Mark Roebothan gained the early 1-0 lead beating BU goaltender Brett Bennett glove-side after several failed clearing attempts by the BU penalty kill units.

Whatever momentum UML had, the Terriers soon ran off with it.

Brian McGuirk shot a seemingly harmless shot from the blue line toward the River Hawk net that somehow squeaked by UML goaltender Carter Hutton between his right pad and the post.

The Terriers tallied another score less than two minutes later when BU captain Pete MacArthur (two goals) was fed beautifully in front of the net by Matt Gilroym, who was fighting hard for puck control against the right side boards.

In the second period the checks were flying, as were the doors to the penalty boxes.

The Terriers scored the only goal of the period on the power play.

At 12:41 into the period BU forward Chris Higgins put his team on top 3-1 when he fired a shot by UML net minder Hutton. Kevin Shattenkirk and MacArthur assisted on Higgins’ goal.

Once up by a pair of goals, the Terriers sat back and let the River Hawks back into the game.

“I was pleased with our first period, we played really well, really sharp,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “Once we made it 3-1 we started to play out of our system, out of our style. Something different. We were pathetic killing penalties.”

Hutton was sharp in the second despite the goal, preventing the lead from getting any bigger, though he had help from his defense, which held the Terriers to six second-period shots.

UML pulled within one, coming off of a Bryan Ewing hooking penalty 25 seconds into the third.

Freshman defenseman Maury Edwards tallied his eighth goal of the year firing a slap shot five feet in front of the blue line that beat Bennett high glove side. Assistant captain Jeremy Dehner and captain Ben Holmstrom assisted on the goal. The goal came at 1:28 into the period.

“In general, battling back from a 3-1 and 4-2 deficit to make it a ballgame, I’m proud of our effort, resiliency, and really our overall effort on our bench that we were going to get it done,” UMass Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald said. “Clearly special teams on both sides played a huge role in tonight’s game.”

A little more than five minutes later BU stormed back. MacArthur padded the lead once more by redirecting Bryan Ewing’s shot from the blue line over Hutton’s left shoulder for his second goal of the game.

After a Kevin Shattenkirk penalty, Ben Holmstrom banked home a shot by Kory Falite. Maury Edwards also assisted on the goal.

Just a minute later, Hutton kept the comeback attempt alive, robbing Terrier Ryan Weston on a breakaway bid.

On a night when harmless shots turned in goals, the save of the night wasn’t by a goaltender, but by BU defenseman Colby Cohen.

With intense pressure out of the net Bennett was caught out of position, leaving the right side of the night wide open. Cohen (goal, assist) dove to the right side of the net, blocking the shot with his right leg.

Higgins added an empty netter with six seconds remaining, his second goal of the night.

Out of the eight goals that were scored; five were on the power play. BU out shot UML 33-29, 17-9 in the first quarter.

Tomorrow night these two teams match up again for game two of the Hockey East quarterfinals.

Ryan Fleming can be reached at [email protected].