Boston University made things interesting, cutting a three-goal deficit to one with 3:28 to go, but heavily-favored Boston College hung on for a 6-4 win in the archrivals’ second meeting of the season Friday night at Conte Forum. The win marked the 950th of coach Jerry York‘s career.
The struggling Terriers (7-12-2, 2-6-1 Hockey East), who entered the night riding a six-game winless streak, came out strong and took a 1-0 lead 10:47 in on a great shot by Robbie Baillargeon. The Eagles (15-4-3, 9-1-1 HE) tied the game on a power-play goal from Adam Gilmour in the final minute of the period.
The second period was much closer to how the game was expected to play out, with BC dominating play and scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead into the third. The third goal came from Johnny Gaudreau, who extended his point streak to 17 games and became the first player in the country to reach 20 goals on the season.
T.J. Ryan cut BC’s lead to one 2:50 into the third, but then goals from Chris Calnan and Gilmour (his second of the game) appeared to put the game out of reach. BU didn’t quit, though. Mike Moran and Cason Hohmann scored five minutes apart to pull the Terriers back within one, but then Gaudreau sealed the win for the Eagles with a lofty backhand flip into an empty net from center ice.
With the victory, the Eagles extended their unbeaten streak to eight games and held onto their four-point lead over Northeastern for first place in the conference.
Here are some observations:
- Three of BC’s goals came from the fourth line of Calnan, Gilmour and Brendan Silk. Needless to say, that’s a great sign for the Eagles. The top line of Gaudreau, Bill Arnold and Kevin Hayes is the best in the country — and York said after the game that it might be BC’s ‘best in decades’ — but the Eagles still need offense from their other lines. York changed up two of the other lines this week, but kept Calnan, Gilmour and Silk together. That vote of confidence paid off, as the trio created a number of quality chances, and cashed in on three of them.
- There’s no such thing as moral victories, but the Terriers do deserve some credit for the way they played Friday night. With the news this week that Bruins prospect Matt Grzelcyk — their best player this year — would miss the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder, the thinking from most (including me) was that BU didn’t really stand much of a chance against BC. And after getting totally outplayed in the second and falling behind by two goals, it would’ve been easy for the Terriers to roll over. Instead, they turned up the intensity in the third and made a game of it. Coach David Quinn said after the game that it was ‘a step in the right direction’ and that his team showed ‘a lot of good things,’ and he’s right. It’s not a moral victory, but perhaps it can be something to build off.
- The Eagles went 2-for-2 on the power play, continuing their recent turnaround on the man advantage. After struggling to convert for much of the season, they’ve now gone 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) over the last three game. If this trend continues, the Eagles become even more dangerous than they already were.
-It’s not often that you can say a goalie played well in a game in which he allowed five goals, but Sean Maguire made a lot of big saves for the Terriers on Friday night, especially during the first 10-12 minutes of the second, when BC seemed to be generating grade-A chances every shift. The .884 save percentage on the night will unfortunately blend right in with his identical, underwhelming .884 mark since mid-November, but Friday night is a case of numbers being misleading. Maguire kept BU in the game, and all five goals came from guys who got open within 10 feet of the net — and only one came off a rebound. For what it’s worth, Maguire stopped 14 other shots from the grade-A area.