Mikhail Yegorov’s 62 Saves Fuel BU’s Sweep of Maine and Defender of the Week Honors

Yegorov holds the line while BU rallies

Mikhail Yegorov’s work in Boston University’s weekend sweep of Maine earned the junior goaltender Hockey East Defender of the Week. The St. Petersburg native stopped 62 of 66 shots across the series, including 19 in Saturday’s first period, when 10 of those attempts came on the power play. That’s a heavy workload, and it shows how much Yegorov mattered to the result.

Raw shot totals don’t tell the whole story of a goaltender’s weekend, but they do make the demands clear: Yegorov had to stay involved, track traffic and handle repeated chances while BU worked to find its footing. The first-period total is especially telling because a large share came with Maine on the power play. Those situations force a goalie to read screens and recover quickly, with less margin for a rebound to land in a dangerous area.

Tynan Lawrence scored twice in the third period to pull the Terriers even at 2-2. But the comeback needed Yegorov to keep Maine from adding to its lead. Head coach Pandolfo singled out the saves that kept BU within reach:

“Big Mike was huge there for us,” Pandolfo said. “There were a lot of scrambling plays around our net. He made some big saves on rebounds, and the kill did a job there for us to keep it 2-0 and give us a chance at some point to get our game going and find a way.”

Pandolfo’s description points to a useful distinction: Yegorov wasn’t only stopping clean first shots. He was dealing with rebounds and unsettled plays around the crease, where a defense can lose its shape and a goalie’s next save can decide whether a game stays within reach. The penalty kill also had a part in holding Maine at two, so this was a collective defensive effort with the goaltender at its center.

Yegorov, selected by the New Jersey Devils in the second round of the 2024 draft, has a 1.98 goals-against average and .928 save percentage through eight starts. He’s given up more than two goals just twice. Those are strong early numbers; the weekend workload gives them some welcome context.

Eight starts are still a small sample, and a strong opening stretch can change quickly as opponents adjust and schedules get tougher. Even so, the combination of those rates and a high-volume weekend is more persuasive than either point on its own. This is more significant than it looks: BU got a timely comeback, but it also got evidence that its goaltender can absorb pressure when the game turns disorderly.

Poll movement gives BU a mixed picture

Poll Story

BU moved up one place to No. 13 in the USCHO Weekly Poll. The bigger shift came at the top: undefeated Wisconsin passed Michigan for No. 1. Providence, the highest-ranked Hockey East team, dropped to No. 9 after its first loss, a 5-1 defeat to Quinnipiac. Merrimack, which BU faces later this month, climbed to No. 16, while Army entered the poll at No. 19.

BU’s one-place gain is modest, and the weekend sweep offers a stronger argument for the Terriers than a single ranking slot does. Polls are snapshots shaped by results across the country; they can register movement without explaining whether a team’s underlying play has improved. The shift at the top and Providence’s fall also show how quickly a loss can alter the order, even when one result doesn’t settle a team’s broader outlook.

Merrimack’s rise matters to BU because the teams are due to meet later this month. A higher ranking gives that matchup more attention, but the number beside a team’s name won’t reveal how the game will unfold. If you’re following BU’s progress, the more useful question is whether the Terriers can carry the defensive resilience they showed against Maine into a busier run of ranked opponents.

In the USA Hockey Poll, BU stayed at No. 1. The ranking comes with a demanding November schedule: two-game series against No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Denver and No. 14 Merrimack, plus a single game against No. 6 Quinnipiac. That stretch will offer a much clearer test of the Terriers’ standing.

Those games will test BU across several matchups, and the series format means the Terriers will have to respond after seeing the same opponent again. A poll position can describe current esteem; it can’t answer whether a team can handle that kind of sequence. Yegorov’s early form gives BU a reason for confidence, though the workload against Maine also underlines how much the team will need its defense and penalty kill to contribute.

ESPN’s John Buccigross kept BU at No. 14, where it stood the previous week. Everything College Hockey ranked the Terriers No. 13.

The gap between those assessments is narrow, and neither should carry more weight than the games themselves. Different polls reflect different ballots and judgments, so a small discrepancy isn’t a verdict on BU’s quality. The clearest signal will come when the Terriers face the ranked teams on their schedule.

Home record is an edge, not a guarantee

SNL (Saturday Night Leftovers & some Friday Fries)

No surprise who tonight’s players of the game were! https://t.co/NLyQ7lGjg7

BU’s dominance over Maine in Boston is hard to dismiss: Jay Pandolfo is 7-0 against the Black Bears at Agganis Arena, and the Terriers have won 10 straight home meetings. Their overall record there stands at 22-6-3. The streak gives BU a clear historical edge, though it won’t decide the next game on its own.

That distinction matters. A long home run can reflect familiarity, confidence and a favorable history of results, but it doesn’t make the next matchup automatic. Maine still put enough pressure on BU to require major work from Yegorov, and the Terriers needed Lawrence’s third-period goals to draw level. The record is an advantage in the story of this rivalry. The game itself still had to be earned.

And yet. For BU, the sweep combines a meaningful result with a goaltender who delivered under pressure, while the rankings point toward a demanding test ahead. The next stretch should tell readers more about the Terriers’ standing than any poll movement can.