The Boston College men’s hockey team dropped the second game of their weekend series with Northeastern on Saturday night, falling to their conference rivals by a 4-3 score. After taking Friday night’s game in overtime, the Eagles lost this one in the exact same fashion, as the Huskies found the game winning goal just two minutes into the extra frame.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead for the second night in a row, though now quite as quickly as they did on Friday night. After getting a few good
chances in the opening shifts, BC got their first pwoer play chance of the night just over four minutes into the game and made it count almost immediately, when Dean Letourneau continued his red hot start to the season by ripping a shot from the slot into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Unlike last night, however, Northeastern was able to push back a bit after falling behind, and Louka Cloutier had to be sharp in net for the remainder of the period to keep it a 1-0 game, as the Huskies had a number of high quality chances to tie things up, inclduing one late in the period when BC lost track of a Northeastern player right in front of the net.
Cloutier was sharp early on in the second period as well, as Northeastern continued to apply pressure and look for a tying goal. They finally managed to break through with a power play tally, scoring on a one-timer just about nine minutes in to the second period. They took their first lead of the weekend a few minutes later with their second power play goal of the period to make it a 2-1 game. The Eagles were able to get things back on level terms with a power play goal with 3:21 left in the period, when Alex Pelletier managed to put home a rebound off of a shot from Luka Radivojevic for his first collegiate goal.
Jake Sondreal made it a 3-2 game with his first of the season barely more than a minute later, finishing a chance off of a rebound this time off of a shot from Pelletier to give BC the lead back heading into the third period.
Northeastern made it a 3-3 game with a goal just three minutes into the third period, jumping on a loose puck after Kristian Kostadinski blocked a shot in the slot. Both teams had their chances over the rest of the period, including a power play opportunity for BC with just over two minutes left in regulation, but the two goalies both made some timely saves and we went to overtime for the second night in a row.
It was Northeastern who found the back of the net in the overtime period this time, scoring just over two minutes in on a rebound play after BC had a flurry of chances at the other end. The Eagles dropped a winnable game by a 4-3 score and failed to complete the weekend sweep.
This game felt a lot like Friday night’s contest, with BC putting up a bunch of chances but not finishing on more than a few of them and letting Northeastern stick around for longer than they should have. It didn’t cost them anything on Friday night fortunately, but on Saturday, their lack of finishing bit them in the end. They’ll look to right the ship next week when they host Vermont for two more Hockey East games on Thursday and Friday night.
