BY ANDREW SMITH

BOSTON - With nine games left in the regular season, the University of Massachusetts hockey team still needs to find consistency.

After the Minutemen's four-game winning streak was ended Jan. 24 with a shutout by Vermont, they were thoroughly outplayed Friday in a 6-2 loss to Boston University at Agganis Arena.

"I think we are somewhat inconsistent but there is enough skill level that if we skate well enough, we can be a threat any night of the week," said UMass coach Don "Toot" Cahoon. "My biggest job is to keep these guys positive in their approach. There is a lot of hockey to be played.

"If we can put together a few more in the positive column than we do in the negative column, then maybe we will come out of this thing in pretty good shape," added Cahoon.

With the loss, the 15th-ranked Minutemen (15-10, 10-8 Hockey East) fell to third in the conference, two points behind No. 14 Boston College which defeated Providence 5-2.

UMass plays at Providence at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The sixth-place Terriers (9-11-3, 7-9-2 Hockey East) struck first at 17 minutes, 22 seconds of the first period when Ross Gaudet slammed home a rebound from between the faceoff circles.

Teammate Eric Gryba fired a slap shot from just inside the blue line, which UMass goaltender Paul Dainton kicked away easily, but Gaudet was there to capitalize on the second chance.

Boston University added three goals in 2:54 near the end of the second period.

"Fundamentally, we broke down in two or three situations that just created the separation in the score," said Cahoon. "I'm not unhappy with our guys' effort, but obviously we need to shore up our execution in a couple of areas.

"BU is that type of team, where if you make those types of mistakes you are going to pay," added Cahoon.

Gaudet deposited his second goal of the game at 15:27 when his wrist shot ricocheted off the post and barely crossed the goal line.

About one minute later, defenseman Colby Cohen's slap shot from just inside the blue line hit a UMass defender and slipped through Dainton's pads to put the Terriers ahead 3-0.

The Minutemen got on the board when Brian Keane put back a Justin Braun slap shot at 17:15 for his second goal of the season.

Fifty-four seconds later, Vinny Saponari was able to put his stick on a Colby Cohen shot to restore the Terriers' three-goal lead.

Martin Nolet scored for UMass at 9:34 of the third from an eight-player scrum in front of Boston University goaltender Kieran Millan (37 saves). The referees reviewed the play looking for a potential hand pass, but the goal was upheld.

Max Nicastro put the Terriers back up by three when he scored a power play goal at 15:07 of the third. His shot from the point got past Dainton's outstretched leg pad. Luke Popko ended the scoring with a shorthanded goal with under a minute left in the game.

Dainton (29 saves) consistently had to stop second and third chance Terrier shots and was faced with two breakaways in the first period after his defensemen's passes were intercepted.