It’s telling what a team does on the power play.
While Northeastern scored one goal on three power play chances during Friday night’s game, Boston College could not convert on any of its five opportunities.
“Their penalty kill was good, but we didn’t have enough pace tonight,” BC men’s hockey head coach Greg Brown said. “I think the previous games we had some tempo to it, and so it felt like tonight we were kind of double-clutching, or a step slow, so we didn’t generate nearly enough tempo to get them out of position so we could get pucks to the net.”
In the first period, the Huskies (5–1–0, 3–0–0 Hockey East) killed a minute of 5-on-3 disadvantage and another minute of 5-on-4 disadvantage consecutively. And it was moments like that which led to a 3–0 shutout loss for the Eagles (2–4–1, 0–2–0).
“I thought we did a pretty good job of taking away the looks that they wanted,” Northeastern men’s hockey head coach Jerry Keefe said. “That was a huge momentum swing for us—getting out of that five-on-three. That was really big for our team tonight.”
Northeastern did not allow a goal in 9:02 of power-play kill shifts.
“They’re locked in right now,” Keefe said. “And when we do take a penalty, you can see the believability that, ‘Hey, we’re going to get the kill’, and then it’s going to give our team momentum.”
Huskies goalkeeper Lawton Zacher recorded 32 saves, including stopping a 1-on-1 breakaway by Dean Letourneau in the second period.
“It felt like we had the puck, which is a good thing, but not nearly enough chances,” Brown said. And when we did create some good chances, Zacher was outstanding.”
Northeastern forward Amine Hajibi scored the Huskies first goal from behind the goal line with his team on the power play 1:43 into the second period.
The Huskies’ other two goals both came from the top of the crease—the first from James Fisher with 6:10 to go in the second frame and the second from Giacomo Martino 4:13 into the third.
“We tried for blocks on both of them, and it’s a risky thing—if you get the block, everyone cheers, and it looks great,” Brown said. “But if you don’t get the block, then the guy that you were going to be covering is in front, behind you. So, you know, Kostadinski, I felt like he really needed to challenge that. And he kind of lost an edge, and we didn’t get back with other people to cover up behind them.”
BC likely played its last game at Matthews Arena—the oldest ice hockey arena in the world—as Northeastern has plans to construct a new multi-purpose athletic facility in its place. The Huskies’ final game at Matthews Arena is scheduled for Dec. 13.
“It’s always been a special place,” Brown said. The history is second-to-none for arenas in Boston. So, you’re sad to see it go, but it’ll be exciting when they get the new building, too. I’m sure the huge majority of hockey people in Boston all have memories from this arena. So, you remember ‘em fondly, but sometimes when it’s time, it’s time.”