Boston College Men’s Hockey Knocks off Northeastern 4-2

The Boston College men’s hockey team closed out their regular season with a win over Northeastern, knocking off the Huskies 4-2. Casey Carreau scored the game winner early in the third period and Matt Boldy added two goals of his own as the Eagles bounced back from a loss last Saturday night.

Both teams traded chances early on before Northeastern started controlling play in the first period, but it was BC who got on the board first with just under seven minutes left in the game. After the Huskies put together some dangerous shifts, it was Trevor Kuntar who opened the scoring, finishing a nice play that started with a slick pass from Patrick Giles. Giles slid a pass to a streaking Kuntar, who managed to flip a backhanded shot into the net for his sixth goal of the season and his first since January 17. The goal gave the Eagles some momentum, and they started to generate some more chances towards the end of the period, but neither team was able to find the back of the net again and it remained 1-0 after 20 minutes.

Matt Boldy made it 2-0 about eight minutes into the second period, scoring a shorthanded goal for the second weekend in a row. Boldy lead a two-on-one rush and appeared to lose control of the puck while looking to make a pass, but quickly regathered and flipped a backhanded shot right under the crossbar for BC’s NCAA leading eighth shorthanded goal of the season. Northeastern answered right back, however, putting a rebound past Spencer Knight just after the BC power play had expired to make it a 2-1 game. Northeastern tied things up at two with about four minutes left in the period when a nice passing play left a Huskie forward wide open in front of the net for an uncovered shot that beat Knight through the five-hole. BC had a few decent looks in the last shifts of the period, but the score remained 2-2 after two periods.

Casey Carreau gave BC the lead back about 90 seconds into the third period, putting home a rebound after a strong shift by BC’s third line. Carreau’s goal was his fifth of an impressive junior campaign and continued a string of strong games from his line. Matt Boldy doubled the lead with under seven minutes to go with his tenth goal of the season. Boldy took a pass in the slot from Alex Newhook and fired a one-timer into the net for his second goal of the game to make it 4-2. The Eagles shut Northeastern down for the rest of the game and even had a few chances of their own (including Spencer Knight taking a shot at an empty net) and came out on top to close their season on the right foot.

Boston College played an up and down game through the first 40 minutes, but they put together a fantastic third to come out on top. With the win, BC ends their regular season with a 16-4-1 record and will likely top the Hockey East standings. They’ll have home ice throughout the upcoming Hockey East tournament that will start this week. The Eagles will have a bye through the first round, and will be back in action in the quarterfinals next weekend.