Boston College 4, Notre Dame 2: Eagles Force Decisive Game Three

The top-seeded Eagles shook off the rust from, well, whatever the hell this was last night, to notch a 4-2 win over Notre Dame in the second game of the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal series. The two teams will play in a decisive game three tomorrow afternoon with the winner advancing to the Garden for the Hockey East Tournament semifinals.

Coming off the heels of a 7-2 #beatemdown on Friday night, things did not get off on the right foot in this one. Notre Dame's Bryan Rust scored less than a minute in to give the Irish a 1-0 lead as Eagle nation collectively held its breath, hoping to avoid a repeat of last night's lopsided affair. BC was able to bounce back from giving up the early goal, however, as Patrick Brown knotted the game at one apiece midway through the first. Gaudreau would tally the go-ahead goal late in the first period on the power play to give BC a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

After the two teams skated to a scoreless second period, Kevin Hayes potted the game winner six minutes into the third. Gaudreau would add the insurance goal 90 seconds later to put BC up 4-1. Notre Dame's Vince Hinostroza scored a power play goal late in the third, but that would be it as the Eagles held on for the 4-2 victory.

Johnny Hockey continues to do Johnny Hockey things. The junior forward finished with two goals and two assists to pace the Eagles. With an assist on Patrick Brown's game-tying goal in the first period, Gaudreau extended his point streak to 31 games which ties Maine's Paul Kariya's for the longest single-season point streak in Hockey East history.

Just give the kid the Hobey Baker already. And buy this t-shirt. / shameless plug

We'll see you again tomorrow for game three. Faceoff is at 4:30 p.m. with the game televised by NESN.