After 49 winless days, Boston College men’s hockey ended its drought on Friday night.
The Eagles snapped their 12-game winless streak, as BC (11–15–5, 6–10–3 Hockey East) scored three first-period goals en route to a 4–1 victory over Northeastern (19–10–1, 10–7–1) for its first win of 2022.
Eleven days after falling to the Huskies in the Beanpot’s opening round, BC was looking for revenge Friday. Marc McLaughlin and Drew Helleson returned to the lineup after spending over two weeks away playing for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Eagles’ energy paid off from the outset. Just 16 seconds into the contest, BC opened the scoring, as Colby Ambrosio scored practically right off the opening faceoff.
Trevor Kuntar then scored his eighth goal of the season just under four minutes into the game. Kuntar’s score came on a long rebound from Northeastern goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter to put the Eagles up 2–0 within the opening five minutes.
Septimphelter, who posted a .976 save percentage in a career outing in the Beanpot semifinal, allowed four BC goals Friday, finishing the night with a .857 save percentage.
Matt Choupani put the Huskies on the board with just over five minutes remaining in the first period, but BC responded fewer than 90 seconds later.
Making up for lost time, McLaughlin netted his 19th goal of the season in his first game in a BC sweater since Jan. 28.
In the second period, Northeastern played with more energy and intensity than it did in the first period, but BC held its ground.
Marshall Warren diced through the neutral zone on a breakaway midway through the second frame and fired a shot past Semptimphelter while BC was on the power play. Warren’s tally put the Eagles ahead by three goals, where they sat for the rest of the game.
In addition to executing when up a man, BC limited penalties Friday, a challenge it has grappled with all season. BC only allowed one Northeastern power play, and the Eagles successfully killed off the penalty—which they have struggled to do this year.
In the final period, Northeastern outshot the Eagles 16–3, but Eric Dop, who took a puck to the face with just over five minutes to play, stepped up. Dop made 30 saves on the night to post a .968 save percentage in his sixth 30-plus save outing of the season.
Featured Image by Aditya Rao / Heights Staff
