CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Two second-period goals were enough in No. 2 Boston College men's hockey's 4-1 win over No. 1 Boston University at Kelley Rink on Friday night. The win propelled the Eagles to 17-4-1 overall and 10-3-1 in Hockey East; three points back of the Terriers (16-5-1, 11-2-1).
Shots were dead even at 13 apiece through a scoreless-first period in front of a sold-out crowd of 7,884. Each side killed off a penalty in the opening frame with BC goaltender Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.) turning away a one-timer by BU's Macklin Celebrini late in the Terrier's power play.
Freshman Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) broke the ice in the second period with his 13th goal of the season on a shot ripped from the right circle. The Eagles' all-freshman line struck again before the end of the period as Leonard slid the puck to Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.), who passed the puck to Gabe Perrault (Hinsdale, Ill.) for the shot-and-score on the BC counter.
BU cut the deficit in half on a Jack Hughes goal in the third, but Boston College put the game away with a pair of empty netters in the final two minutes from Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Andre Gasseau (Garden Grove, Calif.).
Fowler finished the game with 26 saves and saw two BU shots ring off the post in the second period. Mathie Caron posted 28 for the Terriers.
SCORING
2nd 3:34 BC Ryan Leonard (Eamon Powell, Drew Fortescue)
2nd 17:15 BC Gabe Perreault (Will Smith, Leonard)
3rd 13:23 BU Jack Hughes (Aiden Celebrini, Dylan Peterson)
3rd 18:06 BC Cutter Gauthier (Jack Malone, Aram Minnetian)
3rd 18:57 BC Andre Gasseau (Jacob Bengtsson)
GAME NOTES
- Friday's game marked the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the 292 meetings between BC and BU.
- The game was BC's fifth sellout of the season. BC last sold out five games in a season in 2012-13.
- BC's last win over a team ranked No. 1 in the country came against Miami in the 2010 National Semifinal.
- Gauthier extended his career-best point streak to 12 games.
- Leonard has scored 12 of his 13 goals over the last 16 games and recorded his ninth multi-point game of the season.
UP NEXT
Boston College visits BU Saturday night at Agganis Arena for a 7 p.m. faceoff on NESN.
