BOSTON - No. 2 Boston College men's hockey pulled of the weekend sweep of No. 1 Boston University with a 4-3 win in front of a packed 6,300 fans at Agganis Arena on Saturday night. The Eagles improved to 18-4-1 overall and 11-3-1 in Hockey East; pulling even at the top of the league standings with the Terriers at 16-6-1 and 11-3-1.
BC successfully killed off five of six penalties and freshman goaltender Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.) stood between the pipes for 31 saves. Fowler made his 29th of the season on a BU counter attack. A long rebound off the goalie's pad ignited the BC attack as freshman Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) carried the puck into the zone and on a one-two pass with graduate defenseman Jacob Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden) fired home a shot that stood as the game-winning goal..
The first period was all BU for the first five minutes as BC did not register a shot until 5:11 into the game. Matching roughing minors cleared the ice for a 4-on-4 with Fowler standing up for two saves.
Back-to-back Terrier penalties set up Boston College with 1:17 of a 5-on-3 advantage. After BU survived a broken stick, the Eagles capitalized after the next faceoff as freshman Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) found the back of the net. Just over a minute later, seconds after the second Terrier was released from the box, sophomore defenseman Lukas Gustafsson (Atlanta, Ga.) put a rebound past Mathie Caron for a two-goal advantage.
BU, which out-shot BC 11-8 in the first, bridged the gap to one with a power play goal in the final minute of the first from Shane Lachance. The Terriers tied the game early in the second on a goal by Sam Stevens. Immediately after penalty kill midway through the period, Fowler came up with a save as senior Gentry Shamburger (Atlanta, Ga.) was released from the penalty box and went one-on-one to the net, but was denied by Caron to keep it a 2-2 game.
In transition, BC sophomore Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was left alone in the circle and scored through the five-hole to put the Eagles on top 14:12 into the second. Gauthier, who netted his league-leading 19th of the second, was sent to the penalty box moments later for cross-checking. Fowler stood up for five saves, including two in quick succession on shots by Lachance, as BC killed off another Terrier power play.
SCORING
1st 10:08 BC Gabe Perreault (Will Smith, Eamon Powell)
1st 11:21 BC Lukas Gustafsson (Jacob Bengtsson, Oskar Jellvik)
1st 19:46 BU Shane Lachance (Ryan Greene, Quinn Hutson)
2nd 3:39 BU Sam Stevens (Luke Tuch)
2nd 14:12 BC Cutter Gauthier (Ryan Leonard, Jellvik)
3rd 13:45 BC Will Smith (Bengtsson)
3rd 17:49 BU Macklin Celebrini (Lane Hutson, Greene)
GAME NOTES
- BC scored on the power play (Perreault) for the first time since Jan. 19 at Merrimack.
- Three Eagles recorded multi-point games with Will Smith recording his seventh in a 10-game point streak.
- Fowler totaled 32 saves for his seventh game of 30 or more this season.
- Gauthier extended his career-best point streak to 13 games, which is tied with Maine's Josh Nadeau for the longest in the country this season.
- Perreault's first-period goal was his ninth of the season and second of the weekend.
UP NEXT
Boston College visits UMass Lowell next Friday for a 7:15 p.m. contest.
