NORTH ANDOVER — Good teams find ways to win hockey games even when they haven’t played their best. Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy thinks he has a good hockey team on his hands, and the Warriors beat Boston University last night 4-3 in a game where they were far from their best.

Merrimack (3-0-2) got on the board just 48 seconds into the game when Ben Bahe tapped a pass to Brett Seney in the neutral zone and the sophomore crossed the offensive blue line with speed before snapping a shot that beat BU goaltender Sean Maguire over the glove.

(Ed. Note — You can also read this story in Saturday’s Eagle Tribune)

The Warriors added another goal near the midpoint of the first, when Bahe jammed a puck under — or perhaps through — Maguire’s right pad.

BU then responded in the second period, however. John MacLeod beat Collin Delia high with a bomb from the point at the 4:29 mark of the period and then Matt Lane snuck a backhander past Delia at the 8:17 mark.

“I think it’s good for a team to win and not play your best,” Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy said. “We got off to a good start, obviously, we were up 2-0. We just had good energy to start the game. Then we stopped skating and started watching a little bit. For large stretches we started watching.”

After John Gustafsson (diving) and MacLeod (slashing) were called for matching minors at 14:08 of the second, Merrimack would strike twice, and quickly. Hampus Gustafsson beat Brandon Hickey on a rush into the zone at the 14:27 mark. Then just over a minute later, Ethan Spaxman walked in alone and fired a shot past Maguire for his first collegiate goal.

“I’m still shaking,” Spaxman said. “It’s pretty early for a freshman to get that out of the way, I think. Jace Hennig carried it in 4-on-4, lots of time and space out there, luckily he curled and they both attacked him. Luckily he passed it back to me and I had all the time to walk in and I don’t think I could have gotten any closer before I shot. I had (Michael) Babcock in front screening the goalie and it had some eyes.”

“For a small period of time played well enough to get two goals and then stopped skating, and then we stopped skating again,” Dennehy added. “They pushed back and we didn’t do as good a job responding to that as I would have liked.”

Merrimack lost Hampus Gustafsson in the third period after he took a slash. It forced the Warriors to shuffle their lines for the final 20 minutes. Gustafsson’s status for tonight is not known.

“Middle body injury?” Dennehy asked. “Injury to a limb? I’m not sure how Bill Belichick would say it. He took a slash and was bleeding.

“It was like whack-a-mole on the bench at times. We need to do a better job with that. We got short on the right side and at center, so we pieced it together. Our seniors were great, they led the way.”

Merrimack hosts UNH tonight at 7 p.m.

Merrimack 4, Boston University 3

at Lawler Arena, Merrimack College

Boston University (2-3-0): 0-2-1—3

Merrimack College (3-0-2): 2-2-0—4

First Period: 1. MC Brett Seney 2 (Ben Bahe, Brian Christie), ev, 0:48; 2. MC Ben Bahe 4 (Marc Biega, Justin Hussar), ev, 9:26.

Second Period: 3. BU John MacLeod 1 (Brien Diffley, Robbie Baillargeon), ev, 4:29; 4. BU Matt Lane 3 (Jordan Greenway, Doyle Somerby), ev, 8:17; 5. MC Hampus Gustafsson 2 (Ben Bahe, Jace Hennig), ev, 14:27; 6. MC Ethan Spaxman 1 (Jace Hennig, Marc Biega), ev, 15:30.

Third Period: 7. BU Brandon Hickey 2 (Ahti Oksanen, Brandon Fortunato), ev, 4:04.

Shots: Merrimack 9-9-8—26; Boston U 7-16-14—37

Saves: MC Delia 34 of 37; BU Maguire 10 of 14; LaCouvee 12 of 12

Power Play: Merrimack 0 for 4 (6 shots); Boston U 0 for 3 (2 shots)

Next: Hosts UNH tonight, 7 p.m.