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Boston College Hockey Skates Past Michigan State, 3-2

The Eagles snap a four-game skid.

By Brian F.

No video last night, which means no GOAL BY GOAL as well as limited #hotsportstakes. Anyway...

Boston College hockey snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory at Michigan State on Friday night. With the win, the Eagles get back to .500 (5-5-0) while Michigan State falls to 3-6-0 and 2-5-0 against Hockey East opponents in non-conference play.

The Eagles needed just 39 seconds to open the scoring when Zach Sanford beat Jake Hildebrand to open the scoring. Sanford's goal, assisted by Tuch (5) and Matheson (6) is the first of his career. Matty Gaudreau would make it 2-0 with his second goal of the season.

The Eagles benefitted from a fortuitous bounce midway through the first period after sophomore Ian McCoshen sauced the puck from the neutral zone towards Hildebrand. The puck took a funny hop before bouncing towards the net and Gaudreau kept the disc in his crosshairs. Hidlebrand misplayed the puck and Gaudreau perfectly timed the poke check at 12:33 to give Boston College a two-goal pad. Rookie Noah Hanifin initiated the play with the outlet pass to McCoshen from behind the net.

Michigan State's Michael Ferrantino would cut the lead in half at 17:16 in the first period off a broken BC clear. 2-1 Eagles after 1.

In the second period, Quinn Smith doubled the Eagles' lead when he roofed a rebound past Hildebrand into the back of the net. Assist by Michael Sit. Midway through the third period, MSU's Matt DeBlouw made it 3-2 after beating Demko on a wrister.

That final score would hold, but it was a good two minutes of white knuckle time for the Eagles as Michigan State coach Tom Anatos decided to pull Hildebrand with two minutes to go. Smith nearly got the ENG, but the Eagles held on for the 3-2 victory.

Couple notes:

-- The Eagles' power play woes continue, though they did only got one chance on the night (and Matheson took a high sticking call that wiped out the final 20 seconds of BC's only man advantage of the game). Boston College is now 0-for-its-last-28 power plays (!) going back to the first game in the Denver series. BC is 2-4-0 over that span with a pair of 1-goal victories.

-- Nice to see BC get some goal scoring from its third and fourth lines, including Matty Gaudreau, who now has goals in consecutive games for the first time in his career. He's going streaking.

-- Also nice to have Demko back. Both he and Hildebrand stopped 31 shots on the night.

-- Finally, with the win, Sir Jerry of York ties legendary Eagle coach John "Snooks" Kelley with the most career victories at Boston College. York's first chance at passing Kelley will come next Friday night at Mullins Arena against UMass.

Infographic? Infographic.

The Eagles look to put together just their second winning streak of the season next weekend when they travel to Western Mass to take on UMass on Friday, November 21 at 7 p.m. BC then returns home to face Maine the following night, Saturday, November 22 at 7 p.m.

Other scores from around Hockey East: Boston University kept pace with Lowell atop the league standings with a 3-1 victory over Maine up in Orono. Providence blanked Vermont, 3-0. Notre Dame needed OT to put away Merrimack on the road, 3-2. New Hampshire outlasted Northeastern 5-3. The Huskies are now 0-8-1 on the year. Yeesh. Lowell jumped out to a 5-1 lead over Penn State and held on, winning 5-3.

Finally, UConn fell to Sacred Heart at The Taft School, 2-0, in front of 600 prep school kids who probably aren't going to UConn to play hockey. Don't feel bad, Huskies. Lowell also lost to Sacred Heart last year and advanced all the way to the Elite Eight!

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