BURLINGTON, Vt. - Chris Kreider and Johnny Gaudreau each tallied a pair of goals in a four-goal second period for Boston College and the fourth-ranked Eagles skated past Vermont 6-1 on Friday night at sold out Gutterson Fieldhouse in Hockey East play. The loss drops the Catamounts to 5-22-1 (2-18-1 HEA), while the Eagles improve to 18-10-1 (13-7-1 HEA) on the year.
"I thought we played a very solid first period, we made one young mistake on a back pressure identification to be down 1-0, but I really liked our energy," said head coach Kevin Sneddon. "I liked our physicality, I thought we did so many positive things and the second period we just let the game get away from us. You give them a good look, they can put the puck in the net and every opportunity we gave them they made us pay."
Boston College struck first roughly six and a half minutes into the first period. Brian Dumoulin took a feed from Danny Linell and skated down the right wing boards toward the Vermont net. Dumoulin slipped the puck across the crease off Rob Madore's right pad, but Quinn Smith picked up the rebound and buried it from a weak angle to give the Eagles the lead.
It stayed a 1-0 game into the second period when Vermont took back-to-back penalities. Brooks Herrington was called for cross checking at 5:38, followed by a five-minute major and game misconduct against H.T. Lenz at the 6:25 mark for boarding. On the ensuing 5-on-3, Pat Mullane tapped the puck back to Kreider in the high slot for a one-timer, and Kevin Hayes deflected it past Madore to extend the lead.
The Eagles remained on a 5-on-4 power play for another 3:46 and capitalized again halfway through the hockey game to push the advantage to three. Gaudreau attempted to stuff the puck at the right doorstep but Madore kept his pad against the post to keep it out. Mullane picked up the loose puck behind the goal and fed a pass into the left circle for Kreider, and he buried a one-timer into the open net for a three-goal cushion.
Late in the middle frame, Patch Alber dished the puck to Gaudreau, and he sent a wrist shot from the top of the right circle into the upper left corner to make it 4-0. Two and a half minutes later, Paul Carey tipped a pass ahead to Gaudreau and the rookie struck again from the left circle, beating Madore high to the glove side to push the lead to five with 24 seconds left in the second.
In the third period, Steven Whitney was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for contact to the head, which gave the Catamounts an extended power play. Kyle Reynolds tipped a pass down the left half boards to Sebastian Stalberg, who quickly tapped it into the slot for Colin Markison. The rookie skated through the slot patiently and flipped the puck over the left pad of Parker Milner to put UVM on the board.
Kreider then added his second tally of the game at 15:28 of the final period off a centering pass from Michael Sit to seal the victory for Boston College. Milner stopped 21 shots to pick up his 14th win for the Eagles, while Madore made 20 saves in a losing effort for the Cats. UVM finished the night 1-5 with the man advantage, while BC was 2-3 with both tallies coming in the second period.
Vermont returns to action next weekend as it hits the road next to close its regular season series with New Hampshire on Friday (Feb. 17) and Saturday (Feb. 18). Both games begin at 7 p.m. from the Whittemore Center, and all the action can be heard on WVMT 620-AM and online at SportsJuice.com with Alastair Ingram on the call. The Catamounts and Wildcats skated to a 4-4 tie in the first meeting on Nov. 12, and they met last year in Durham, N.H. during the Hockey East quarterfinals.
NOTES: Check back to UVMathletics.com for CatamounTV highlights ... Kyle Reynolds now has 13 points in his last 12 games ... Vermont's top line has posted nine points in the last two games ... Nick Bruneteau's four-game point streak came to an end on Friday night ... The Catamounts have scored at least one power play goal in 12 of their last 14 games and are 15-for-69 (21.7%) over their last 12 contests ... 11 of the last 14 Vermont goals have been scored by underclassmen ... Vermont entered the night 5-1-2 in its last eight meetings with Boston College on home ice ... Friday night was the first of two home games that will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network, with the other scheduled for Friday, Feb. 24 vs. Boston University at 7:30 p.m.