CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - No. 1 Boston College withstood a third-period comeback from eight-seeded Connecticut in a 5-4 win in the Hockey East Quarterfinals in front of 6,705 fans at Conte Forum. The Eagles (29-5-1) advanced to the semifinals next Friday at TD Garden, where they will face Massachusetts at 4:00pm.
For the second time in the game, it was graduate Jack Malone (Spring Lake, N.J.) that lit the lamp as BC reclaimed the lead midway through the third period. A pass from the left wing by junior Andre Gasseau (Garden Grove, Calif.) was sent into the slot, where it was knocked into the net by Malone.
Boston College raced out to a 2-0 lead with early goals from graduates Jacob Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden) and Malone; each getting their first taste of Hockey East postseason play. Freshman defenseman Drew Fortescue (Pearl River, N.Y.) scored at the 8:00 mark to make it 3-0 before the Huskies got on the board.
Junior Mike Posma (Pomona, N.Y.) backhanded a pass to Bengtsson at the left point, who skated right and sniped a wrister into the back of the net. Just over a minute later, sophomore defenseman Lukas Gustafsson (Atlanta, Ga.) dug out a puck along the boards to Gasseau, who played the puck forward to Malone. Behind one defender, Malone led a two-on-one and elected to take the shot, which was initially saved, but he knocked in the rebound as it trickled behind UConn goaltender Arseni Sergeev.
Late in the second, the Huskies took a penalty for too many on the ice and BC cashed in immediately. Senior defenseman Eamon Powell (Marcellus, N.Y.) blasted a shot toward the net that was tipped in by freshman Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.).
Connecticut refused to go away, netting two goals in the first 65 seconds of the third period. Matthew Wood, who scored to cut the BC lead to one also found the equalizer; unassisted on the power play.
SCORING
1st 2:19 BC Jacob Bengtsson (Mike Posma, Jamie Armstrong)
1st 3:26 BC Jack Malone (Andre Gasseau, Lukas Gustafsson)
1st 8:00 BC Drew Fortescue (Oskar Jellvik, Posma)
1st 8:41 UC John Spetz (Hudson Schandor)
2nd 19:48 BC Ryan Leonard (Eamon Powell, Will Smith) - PP
3rd 0:11 UC Jake Richard (Schandor)
3rd 1:05 UC Matthew Wood (Samu Salminen, Harrison Rees)
3rd 5:35 UC Wood - PP
3rd 9:25 BC Malone (Gasseau, Bengtsson)
GAME NOTES
- BC has won 10 in a row for the first unbeaten streak of 10 or more games by a Hockey East team since UMass' 14-game streak on the way to its 2021 National Championship.
- BC HAS NOT LOST A GAME WHEN LEADING BY MORE THAN ONE GOAL ALL SEASON
- Leonard scored his 26th goal of the season, which is tied for the fourth most by a BC freshman in program history with Steve Heinze (1988-89).
- Malone scored his 10th goal of the season, becoming the seventh Eagle in double digits.
- Posma posted his first two-assist and first multi-point game of the season.
- Smith recorded his 40th assist of the season to tie Joe Whitney (2007-08) for the second most in a season by a BC freshman. He is the first BC player to reach 40 assists since Johnny Gaudreau's 44 in 2013-14.
