Boston College Men’s Hockey Takes Down Maine 6-2

The Boston College men’s hockey team got off to a hot start on Thursday night and never looked back, knocking off Maine 6-2 in Hockey East play. The Eagles got solid play up and down the lineup, highlighted by a hat trick from Jack McBain as they shook off Saturday’s loss to Merrimack to get back on the right foot. The win bumped the Eagles up to 7-5-1 on the season and 5-3-0 in Hockey East play, and it was a much needed result against a Maine team that has struggled mightily out of the gate.

Casey Carreau got things started just 1:47 into the game, scoring his first goal of the season off a nice passing play from Mike Posma and Colby Ambrosio. It was a nice sign for the new look third line, as BC got some badly needed depth scoring to start off the night. Jack McBain doubled their lead just about a minute later, beating the goalie on a move in front for his seventh of the season and forcing Maine to take their timeout with 17:21 left in the first period. McBain got his second of the night about 8 minutes later when he finished off another nice passing play with a one-timer from in close. McBain’s line with Nikita Nesterenko and Brandon Kruse has looked good in recent games, and they were all over the ice early on in this one. Maine cut it to 3-1 with 6:17 left in the period, scoring on a two-on-one just a few seconds after firing a shot off the post. The goal came after a few sloppy shifts from BC, but the Eagles got their legs back and saw the better of the play for the rest of the period. They didn’t quite put things to bed the way it looked like they might early on, but it was a strong first period overall as they hit the intermission with a two-goal lead.

Marc McLaughlin continued his own streak of hot play with a power play goal to kick off the scoring in the second period. He scored off a pretty simple wrist shot in the slot that came after some pretty impressive quick passing at the point from Drew Helleson and Jack St. Ivany to make it 4-1. Once again, though, the Eagles weren’t able to put Maine away for good, as the two teams went a long stretch without many great chances before the Black Bears cut it to 4-2 with under three minutes to play in the second. The goal seemed to give BC their legs back once again, however, and Jack McBain got his hat trick goal with just over 30 seconds left in the period to give the team a 5-2 lead after two. The goal came off of a great feed from below the goal line from Brandon Kruse, who has been playing some great hockey of his own, with at least a point in all but four games this season.

Mike Posma scored the only goal of the third period, putting home a rebound off a great rush from Colby Ambrosio for his second of the season and the third line’s second goal of the night. The trio of Posma, Ambrosio, and Carreau looked solid all night and could be the third scoring line that BC has been missing so far this season, or at least a line that can chip in every now and again.

It wasn’t quite the prettiest performance, but BC controlled this one from the opening faceoff and took care of business with a comfortable win against a team that they should beat. The big names came through yet again and the Eagles added in a bit of depth scoring for good measure. They’ll have a chance to make it a sweep tomorrow night when they take on Maine again.