Boston University has had an inconsistent — and underwhelming — season, plain and simple. After taking down New Hampshire before their bye week, it could have been easy for them to lose momentum.
But the Terriers picked up right where they left off, taking down Boston College 3-1 in the Battle of Comm Ave. Friday at Agganis Arena.
BU opened the scoring first. Freshman forward Tynan Lawrence broke the puck out of the BC offensive zone, slotting a pass down ice to forward Jack Murtagh, who skated out on a breakaway. As BC defenseman Lukas Gustafsson began to cut off Murtagh’s breakaway, he sent a pass back to forward Ryder Ritchie, who wristed BU’s first goal past Louka Cloutier.
After peppering a plethora of rebound chances on Cloutier, sophomore forward Cole Eiserman delivered on his signature one-timer from the left circle, assisted by Cole Hutson.
At the end of the first frame, Gavin McCarthy was called for roughing, but the Terriers killed off the penalty to open the second period thanks to grade A saves from Mikhail Yegorov.
BU’s second penalty kill was eerily similar to the collapse of special teams that happened in the Beanpot championship. BC gained possession off a faceoff six seconds in. Senior captain Andre Gasseau passed to sophomore Dean Letourneau, and Letourneau ripped the puck past Yegorov from the blue line.
The Terriers killed off the subsequent penalty taken by Murtagh for roughing. BC had a number of chances that Yegorov shut down.
As for BU’s power play — which is tied for 49th in the country — it couldn’t find the back of the net on its three attempts.
With five minutes left in the third period, freshman Jonathan Morello found the back of the net after BU maintained possession for nearly three minutes, but the goal was called back for goaltender interference.
BC pulled Cloutier with two minutes in the game, and junior Jack Harvey scored an insurance empty-netter assisted by Eiserman.
The first period was good
BU came out hot and had the stats to show for it.
At the end of the first period, the Terriers outplayed BC in just about every aspect. Shots-on-goal read 19 to four in BU’s favor, and the Terriers had a two-goal lead to show for it.
Defensively, they shut down numerous odd-man rushes from BC’s top lines and won what felt like every puck battle they inserted themselves in.
The Terriers played with a sense of urgency in the opening twenty minutes that frankly hasn’t been there the whole season. It may be too little too late given BU’s place in the NPI, but for one of the first times all season, it actually looked like a team that has 19 draft picks on it. — Hannah Connors
Penalties played a factor
A total of five power plays were called in the second period, and it played into how the game trended. BC had three attempts on the man-advantage. They only connected once via a Dean Letourneau one-timer, which cut the lead in half just five seconds into the Eagles’ second power play.
BU, to its credit, defensively halted its rival’s high-powered offense in the first and third man advantage attempts for BC. For a power play that came into this game ranked sixth in the nation (27.7%), the Terriers defense was able to hold off many chances and Mikhail Yegorov made timely saves that held the Terriers’ lead.
BU saw a few power play chances of its own — just three opportunities in the final forty minutes — but were ultimately unable to convert on any. — Marcus Antonelli