Eagles start their weekend off with a win
Ryan Leonard and Cutter Gauthier both had big night’s as the Boston College men’s hockey team made it seven wins in a row with a 5-3 road win over New Hampshire. The Eagles blew three separate leads over the course of the night, but as has so often been the case this season, their big names up front came through when it mattered most and they were able to find a late winner to bring themselves within a game of clinching the top seed in Hockey East.
New Hampshire just missed opening the scoring with a chance on a rebound about 70 seconds into the game, but it was the Eagles who got on the board first a few minutes later. Ryan Leonard continued his recent hot streak when he took a drop pass from Oskar Jellvik in the offensive zone and cut to the middle of the ice before beating the UNH goalie with a quick wrist shot for his 24th goal of the season. The Wildcats tied things up with a goal of their own not long after, when Jacob Fowler was beaten on a shot from the slot through a bit of screen to make it a 1-1 game. That was all the scoring in the first 20 minutes, as the two teams played at a great pace with no penalties and not many stoppages. UNH looked a bit better early on, but BC worked their way into the game in the second half of the first period and had some chances to take the lead, but had to settle for a tie score at intermission.
Cutter Gauthier gave the Eagles the lead back with an absolutely gorgeous goal early in the second period, beating his defender with speed down the wing before faking a shot and burying a wraparound attempt into an empty net for his 30th goal of the season. UNH got the goal back quickly again, however, scoring when a puck deflected off of Charlie Leddy and into the net to make it 2-2. BC put together some really strong shifts after surrendering the lead and had a few great chances to take it back and UNH had a few chances of their own later on in the period, but both goalies played well and kept anything else from getting past them and the score remained tied after 40 minutes of play.
The Eagles came out strong in the third period, putting together their strongest stretch of the game early on with some extended offensive zone time. It finally paid off when Gauthier scored his second goal of the night with a laser of a shot right off of a faceoff win in the offensive zone to give BC their third lead of the night. For the third time in the game, their lead didn’t last more than a handful of shifts, as UNH tied the game at three a few minutes later when Fowler was beaten on another bullet of a wrist shot. The Eagles got the lead back for good with just over three minutes left in regulation with a power play goal from Ryan Leonard on their first and only man advantage of the night. Jacob Fowler started the play with a long pass up the ice from just in front of his net after a clear from UNH and the puck eventually made its way to Gauthier’s stick. Gauthier threw a cross ice pass to Leonard on the rush who controlled the puck and fired it into the net for his second goal of the night. New Hampshire was unable to pull their goalie for a while after BC took the lead, and almost as soon as they did, Jamie Armstrong won a puck battle in the neutral zone and fired home an insurance goal into the empty net to give BC a 5-3 win.
This was the second straight game where the Eagles didn’t look particularly close to their best, and it’s clear that they are feeling the absence of Gabe Perreault, but they did enough to come away with a positive result in a hostile road environment and at this point of the season, that’s all that matters. With their 11th straight Hockey East win and with rival BU off for the weekend, BC will have their first chance at wrapping up the Hockey East regular season title on Sunday afternoon, when they host New Hampshire to wrap up this weekend series.