The Boston College men’s hockey team fell 5-1 to rival BU on Saturday night, getting swept by the Terriers in a brutal penultimate weekend of the season. This was a game that BC really needed to win after losing the series opener on Friday night and they looked good for portions of this game, but their power play let them down in a big way and they weren’t able to keep up with BU’s offense as the game went on.
BC came out hot early on and generated some big time scoring chances over the opening minutes of the period. They had a power play less than a minute into the game and controlled the puck for the majority of the time, but they weren’t able to find the back of the net. They got another power play chance just a few minutes later, but it was BU who opened the scoring while shorthanded, converting on a breakaway to take a 1-0 lead. BU started to take control of the game over the next several shifts and had a lot of time in BC’s zone, forcing Louka Cloutier to make a few tough saves to keep it a one-goal deficit. He was able to do so, and then it was BC’s turn to score against the flow of play. After gaining control in the offensive zone for the first time in a while, James Hagens was able to hit Oskar Jellvik with a nice pass in close, and Jellvik was able to direct the puck into the net for his first goal of the season. It was a big goal from Jellvik, who was finally able to return to the lineup this weekend after a lengthy absence and it got BC back on even terms heading after 20 minutes of play.
BU regained their lead a few minutes into the second period, scoring on a shot from a sharp angle down low that Cloutier would probably want another chance at. The two teams played some exciting hockey over the next 17 plus minutes, with both sides creating some huge scoring chances in an up and down game. James Hagens was turned away on a breakaway about midway through the period and looked dangerous on many of his shifts, but BU’s early tally remained the lone goal for the period and BC entered the third trailing 2-1.
BU made it a 3-1 game just about a minute and a half into the third period, scoring their second shorthanded goal of the night. BC had some chances over the rest of the period, but BU eventually put things away with a a goal on a perfect shot with just under five minutes left to make it a three-goal game. The Eagles weren’t able to get any kind of comeback going and BU eventually added an empty net goal to add some salt to the wound. That was it for the scoring as the Eagles dropped their second game of the weekend to their biggest rivals by a 5-1 score
This was an awful weekend for BC, full stop. They managed to score just two goals and dropped two huge games to their rivals while in the midst of a push for the NCAA Tournament. It was a real let down of what could have been a huge series, but the Eagles now need to bounce back pretty much right away and get back in the win column. They’ll finish up their season with two more games this week, traveling to UMass Amherst on Thursday before hosting Northeastern on Saturday night in the regular season finale.