2/19/2010 - Northeastern 3, Boston College 2 - 17-10-2, 12-8-2 Hockey East
2/21/2010 - Boston College 7, Northeastern 1 - 18-10-2, 13-8-2 Hockey East
Let's start with the game I got to watch on Sunday, a game thoroughly dominated by the Eagles. Brian Gibbons scored a goal in each period for his first career hat trick. With his first period goal, Gibbons also eclipsed the 100 point mark for his career in his 109th game. Cam Atkinson added a goal and an assist to lead the Eagles (13-8-2, 12-8-2 Hockey East) to a 2-1 regular season series win over Northeastern. The win by the Eagles snapped a 5-game Huskies winning streak.
Parker Milner got the start in net and stopped 22 of 23 shots faced. Milner improves to 7-2-0 on the season.
The Eagles offense came alive on Sunday despite some outstanding play from Northeastern netminder Chris Rawlings. Rawlings stopped 39 of 45 shots faced, and was beat largely on odd-man rushes and breakdowns in the Huskies defense.
Coach York thought the team played well on Friday night, despite a 3-2 setback to Northeastern. The Eagles played well offensively, cycling the puck and getting plenty of shots off, but they couldn't solve goalie Chris Rawlings. Rawlings played well both nights but particularly on Friday, stopping 38 of 40 shots faced. The Friday night setback made Sunday's result all the more important for the Eagles after dropping 2 points to Northeastern on Friday night. The Eagles are trying to keep pace with first-place New Hampshire, who widened their Hockey East lead to 4 points with 4 games to play.
Hockey East Standings
The Eagles (28 points) are four back of UNH with 4 games to play. Maine trails BC by 2 points with 26, while Boston University is clinging to the final Hockey East tournament home playoff spot with 24 points. That's bad news for the rest of the league, as BU - a program left for dead in Hockey East on December 31 - is 6-1-0 in their last 7 home games.
Bullets
- Having now eclipsed the 100 point mark, Brian Gibbons (103 points) moves into a three-way tie for 68th place with Dave Spina (BC '05) and Michael Spalla (BC '94). The junior forward is currently on pace to score 150 points in his BC career, which would put him very close to the top 25 all-time pointers leaders.
- Senior Ben Smith currently sits at 110 points, which is good for a four-way tie with Bobby Allen (BC '01), Craig Janney (BC '87) and Brock Bradford (BC '09) for 55th place all-time.
- Chris Kreider has been on fire since he returned from the World Juniors. With Kreider's breakaway goal on Sunday, he has now scored 8 goals in 13 games. Going into the winter break, Kreider had 2 goals in 15 games.
- Philip Samuelsson recorded a game high +5 on Sunday night, pushing his +/- rating to +11.
- With a win on Sunday, BC pushes their record all-time vs. Northeastern to a one-sided 148-45-13 record (.742).
Up Next
BC plays three of their final four regular season games at home, starting tonight against Merrimack (7:00pm). The Eagles then finish up their regular season series with Massachusetts on Friday night at 7 ET.