CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Top-seeded Boston College endured a 13-day hiatus following the regular season finale and suffered a 7-2 setback on Friday night against visiting eighth-seeded Notre Dame in game one of the Hockey East quarterfinal round.
Freshman forward Ryan Fitzgerald attacked first on the power play last in the first, but the rest of the contest belonged to the Irish. Stephen Johns and Peter Schneider each logged a pair of goals for ND while netminder Steven Summerhayes stopped 22-of-24 shots. Notre Dame has won six-straight games and is unbeaten in its last eight outings.
Junior Johnny Gaudreau extended his point streak to 30-consecutive games with an assist late on a senior captain Patrick Brown tally.
Notre Dame outshot Boston College, 34-24, as first-year goalie Thatcher Demko stopped 27 shots in the loss.
Friday's result marks Boston College's worst margin of defeat since Dec. 30, 2012 (at Minnesota, 8-1).
The Eagles and Irish traded chances early throughout the first frame, but firm play from both Demko and Summerhayes kept it scoreless before Fitzgerald drew first blood at 17:37 on the power play.
Gaudreau drew a slashing call on Jeff Costello down near the goal mouth at 17:19 and Boston College cashed in 18 seconds later.
Freshman Austin Cangelosi triggered the play with a dish off the far wall to classmate Adam Gilmour behind the net. Fitzgerald carved through the middle and hammered the one-timer pass from Gilmour off of Summerhayes' chest. The puck caromed back quickly and Fitzgerald was able to toss the rebound over Summerhayes' mitt for the 1-0 lead.
Just as it looked like BC would have the one-goal edge heading into the first intermission, Johns capped a long play in transition with just nine seconds to go in the first. Notre Dame scored it with some extra room after senior Bill Arnold and Costello took matching penalties at 18:49.
Thomas DiPauli carted the puck from ND's end into Eagle territory and maneuvered around the blue line with a drop pass to T.J. Tynan. Tynan darted back the other way and knocked Demko off his bearings with a crisp pass to Johns on the near post for the one-timer goal at 19:51 to tie it up, 1-1.
Just over a minute into the second, junior Quinn Smith was cited for roughing in front of Summerhayes and the Irish's momentum yielded a 2-1 lead with another rip from Johns at 2:50.
Shayne Taker settled the puck behind ND's net and Vince Hinostroza quarterbacked the play by skating into Boston College's end. Johns flew in from the top of the zone, accepted Hinostroza's feed and picked his spot on Demko with a wide-open look on the power play.
At the 10:00-minute mark of the second, Demko made a huge stop on the near post when Mario Lucia tried to deflect a slapshot. Demko picked it clean out of thin air, but the Irish kept their presence in front of Demko and ND grabbed a two-goal lead after a Lucia blast at 12:49.
Notre Dame benefitted from an errant BC clearing attempt and Austin Wuthrich was able to keep the puck onsides. Wuthrich connected with Hinostroza in stride and he carried around the net for an open look. Lucia was on the receiving end of his dish and beat Demko with a low wrister to give Notre Dame a 3-1 advantage.
The Irish wasted no time making it 4-1 following the puck drop of the third stanza.
Johns factored in once again, sending the puck down through the neutral zone to Steven Fogarty just before he entered BC's zone. Fogarty wheeled the puck below Demko on the near post and zipped back out to Schneider for the successful wrister on the right dot at 1:08.
Bryan Rust padded the lead off of Tynan's rebound at 5:35 of the third frame. Sam Herr hammered a shot from the right circle and the rubber kicked out to Tynan's stick in the slot. Demko made the stop on Tynan but could not shift over to stop Rust's rip as ND took a 5-1 advantage.
Thomas DiPauli nudged the count to 6-1 after going coast-to-coast and beating Demko with a backhand wrister in tight at 12:44. Kevin Lind dug the puck out of the corner, connecting with DiPauli to generate the scoring play.
Schneider added the Irish's seventh marker at 14:59 before Brown's power play tally capped the 7-2 contest.
Arnold worked the puck to Gaudreau behind the net. Gaudreau made his move and linked up with Brown in front at 17:42.
Boston College returns to Kelley Rink to host Notre Dame for the second game of the Hockey East quarterfinal round. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast live on NESN.
Games Notes
- Johnny Gaudreau extended his point-scoring streak to 30 consecutive games. Gaudreau is just one game behind Maine's Paul Kariya (Oct. 23, 1992 to March 2, 1993) 31-game streak set in the 1991-92 season. Over the course of Gaudreau's tear, the Carneys Point, N.J., native has accounted for 57 points (27-30-57) with a +30 rating along with five-game winning goals, seven power play strikes and his first-career short-handed goal. Gaudreau's streak started on Nov. 1, 2013, at home against Northeastern. He has been held scoreless just once this season (at Minnesota - Oct. 27, 2013).
- Notre Dame snapped Boston College's 18-game winning streak in the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs. The last time the Eagles lost a quarterfinal contest was against Boston University on March 13, 2004 (4-2), in a deciding game three at Kelley Rink.